Chelsea punishsed with a transfer ban
4th September, 2009
Football’s world governing body Fifa have banned London giants Chelsea from signing any players in the next two transfer windows.
The punishment occurred after the French team Lens put forward an official complaint over the 2007 transfer of young starlet Gael Kakuta to Chelsea. As a result of this no new personnel will feature until 2011 and Chelsea will also have to give Lens £113,000 in damages.
Kakuta who is now 18 years old, and a regular in the Blues reserve team, was also been informed that he will be punished due to the saga. He will be fined £680,000 and barred from participating for the next four months.
Part of the statement from Fifa read that "The French club had lodged a claim with Fifa seeking compensation for breach of contract from the player and requesting also sporting sanctions to be imposed on the player and the English club for breach of contract and inducement to breach of contract respectively.
A spokesperson for Fifa stated: "This decision confirms our aim to ensure contractual stability. It is an important ruling for football in general."
Chelsea, who have maintained their silence on the issue are permitted to appeal against the penalty to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
The outfit from Stamford Bridge are the second European team to endure this measure after Roma’s signing of Auxerre defender Philippe Mexes in 2004.
A.S Roma successfully got CAS to review the situation and managed to get the sanction reduced to one transfer window. If Chelsea manages to do the same they will be able to acquire new players from May 2010.
To win the Premier League this season Chelsea are 5/4 with Bet 365 and to win the Uefa Champions League the Blues are 13/2 with Coral.
By Dane
