Bernard Woolley I'm not defending the indefensible but there are no clear signs that the Garnacho and Rogers transfers have any immediate benefit for either club.
I've said elsewhere that Maatsen and Kellyman was suspicious. Kellyman now going for nothing illustrates how difficult it is to arrive at a conclusion though. On one hand someone might question why they paid £19m and got only £5m two years later, but on the flip side, they'll record a loss of around £8m this year as a result. So they got a ridiculous sum for Maatsen, but that's now offset by the loss on Kellyman as their chickens come home to roost.
What was the rationale there? Was it hope that Kellyman either comes good enough to either become a viable option or to sell on? It's further complicated by the fact he is going to Strasbourg; it's a loss for Chelsea but is the wider group content to absorb that? Was that the payoff in being able to book an immediate and large profit on Maatsen in 2024 - that the risk of writing half of Kellyman's fee off at a later date was worth the immediate impact of profit at the time? It could be that's the multi-year angle and it doesn't necessarily depend on gentlemen's agreements to repay the favour at a later date. Like you, I'm sceptical there would be the required trust between clubs to make good on something like that, especially considering how quickly clubs' fortunes and finances can change.
Bribery as you said may also be possible, but I go back to my point. Chelsea self-referred undocumented agent payments and took their medicine for it. Is it really likely they would engage in similar behaviour again with the greater scrutiny that no doubt weighs on them, and the prospect of suspended transfer bans kicking in?
But getting back to my point about Garnacho and Rogers. Nobody has put forward any credible theory about dodgy behaviour there. I'm not here defending the indefensible, I'm asking questions to understand the alternative view and see what I'm missing.
There's not enough detail in the rumours about Martinez and Jackson to come to any conclusion about how it looks or what might be going on there.
