According to multiple reports, Chelsea are in ongoing talks with the Premier League to avoid a points deduction over alleged breaches of Financial Fair Play (FFP) regulations during Roman Abramovich’s ownership of the club.
The Russian billionaire bought Chelsea in the summer of 2003 and pumped a small portion of his wealth into the club over the next two decades, helping the Blues to five Premier League titles and two Champions League titles. Abramovich was accused of circumventing financial rules put in place during his term in office to achieve this success.
Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the former Chukotka governor was forced to give up control of the club, which was eventually bought for £2.5 billion by BlueCo, a joint investment group led by Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital became. After reviewing the club’s accounts, the new owners discovered that financial reporting may be incomplete.
According to leaked documents published by The Guardian In November 2023, these irregularities relate to secret payments during the transfers that led to the arrival of Eden Hazard (in 2012) and Willian and Samuel Eto’o (both in 2013). It is also believed that an alleged employee of former Chelsea manager Antonio Conte benefited from these secret installment payments, which were not recorded, to supposedly prevent breaches of the FFP.
Premier League chief executive Richard Masters described the revelations in August as “something historic”.
If these allegations of system fraud are proven, Chelsea could theoretically have a point deducted. That was, after all, the penalty handed out to Everton and Nottingham Forest last season for overspending. However, The times claim Chelsea are in ongoing discussions with the Premier League to avoid this heavy penalty and settle the case with a fine instead.
The Telegraph even going so far as to claim that talks are advanced and club insiders insist they will not lose any points.
Chelsea’s defense relies on the new owners’ approach to transparency. The irregularities were highlighted during the due diligence process before the club’s forced sale and were brought to the attention of the FA, the Premier League and UEFA.
At the time of sale, BlueCo had retained a reserve of £150 million to cover any fines that could have been levied as a result of these potential conduct breaches.
Hazard was signed from Lille for a fee of around £32m, while Willian (£30m) and Eto’o (free transfer) arrived from Russian club Anzhi Makhachkala a day after each other in August 2013. There are claims that the latter two deals involved payments to “Russian companies,” regardless of any transfer fees.
The times claim that the discussion of the case is still ongoing and a result is expected before the end of March The Telegraph The timeline suggests a solution will be found in “the next few weeks.”