Chelsea have a rather unique transfer policy, it must be said.

Firstly, the Stamford Bridge hierarchy including Roman Abramovich, Bruce Buck and Marina Granovskaia almost unconditionally refuse to sign players over the age of 30-years-old.

They also have no issue with making purchases or developing academy youngsters for years on end, only to loan them out once they outgrow the junior levels.

There are countless cases of this occurring throughout the Abramovich era, some of which have been and gone without playing more than a handful of minutes for the first-team.

Think Marko Marin, Juan Cuadrado, Loic Remy and Papy Djilobodji; the list goes on.

Chelsea fans are growing tired of watching this revolving cast of wasted signings take up places in the squad that should be afforded to the talent on offer at Cobham.

After all, the Blues reserves and academy teams have won five FA Youth Cups in a row, two UEFA Youth League titles and the Premier League 2 since 2013.

It’s safe to say there’s no shortage of fledgeling quality available to the west London club.

But Chelsea prefer to stack their team sheet with expensively acquired stars, effectively quashing any chance of a teenager rising all the way through the ranks.

This methodology has led to a situation where the Blues have an enormous number of players temporarily plying their trade elsewhere.

The club agreed to ship no less than 17 players on loan between the end of last season and now, taking the total number to 40.

However, Chelsea may be forced to rethink their strategy pending the introduction of a new rule in which FIFA will permit a club to loan out a maximum of eight players per season.

That’s according to German publication Bild - via the Mail - who claim the restrictions would apply to all players over 21 except those of homegrown status.

To qualify for that, though, a player must have trained with an English club for at least three years prior to their 21st birthday.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR CHELSEA?

What impact could this tweak have on Chelsea, then?

Well, 12 of their current 40-man loan army don’t meet the age limit or homegrown criteria, meaning they would either have to remain at the club - and likely not playing senior football - or be transferred.

It’s unlikely the six-time top-flight champions have a contingency plan for a change of this magnitude, so it will be interesting to see how they handle it if FIFA do follow through.