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How Chelsea signed a star team with hidden payments
How Chelsea signed a star team with hidden payments
Chelsea have been handed a Premier League record fine of £10.75m and a suspended transfer ban.
It was a result of the club making secret payments to unregistered agents and third-parties over transfers between 2011 and 2018.
But it could have been a lot worse. Only a frank admission of guilt and full co-operation avoided a larger fine - and a potential points penalty.
The Premier League published a 28-page document highlighting all the wrongdoings - how much money was paid out, by who, and for which transfer deals.
This is what the written reasons tell us.
Chelsea made 36 separate payments totalling £47.5m to 12 individuals or corporate entities.
They were made via a series of third-parties, which were primarily registered in the British Virgin Islands.
The payments either completed the signings of players and/or acquired transfer options without the payments appearing on the club's accounts.
It was found that they were "obvious and deliberate breaches" which also "involved deception and concealment in relation to financial matters".
Former Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich was implicated.
The payments happened "with the knowledge and approval of certain senior former officers and/or Directors" and using funds "controlled by or associated with the former owner".
The documents name most of the players, though they are not accused of being involved.
The biggest payment, £23m, accounts for almost half the total.
The money was paid to seven unregistered agents (or entities associated with them) to sign players including Eden Hazard (Lille), Ramires (Benfica), David Luiz (Benfica), Andre Schurrle (Bayer Leverkusen) and Nemanja Matic (Benfica).
The combined £19.3m transfer fees for Samuel Eto'o and Willian from Anzhi Makhachkala were also paid off the books.
Payments of £1.37m were paid to director of football Frank Arnesen, plus scout and advisory Piet de Visser and an unnamed third member of staff. This was considered to be their wage.
The final payment of £3.8m was in relation to a redacted player transfer.
It is common practice for names to be removed from official sanction documents or commission judgments.
This usually applies to any person who is not directly connected to football.
Other times it may relate to the identity of minors or there could be data protection issues.
However, in this document there are three players and one member of staff who have had their names redacted.
No reason has been given for their identities being protected.
The majority of Chelsea's misconduct happened between approximately 2013 and 2017. But they were charged for offences over an eight-year period.
It was a period when Jose Mourinho returned to the club, and they won six pieces of silverware.
Chelsea took two Premier League titles (2014-15, 2016-17), two FA Cups (2011-12, 2017-18), the EFL Cup (2014-15) and the Europa League (2018–19).
Most of the players named in the document had glittering careers at Stamford Bridge. They became vital players and helped the club win many trophies.
Chelsea fought off most of Europe's top clubs to the £32m signing of Lille's Hazard, who would score 110 goals in 352 games across all competitions.
The Belgium international was in the PFA Team of the Year four times, and was the PFA Young Player of the Year in 2013-14.
Willian played 339 matches for Chelsea, and Matic 121 after signing for the club for a second time.
David Luiz made 248 appearances across two spells, with Ramires playing 251 times.
Two were not quite so successful.
Germany forward Schurrle failed to find his form across 65 appearances in two seasons in West London. Eto'o scored 12 goals in 35 games and left after one campaign.
Arsene Wenger will remember the players well.
Five of them started Chelsea's 6-0 win over Arsenal on 22 March, 2014 - Wenger's 1,000th game in charge of the Gunners.
Eto'o, Schurrle and Hazard all scored in the match.
With Chelsea enjoying so much success after signing star players through secret payments, did they get off lightly?
If the club had not been so co-operative they would have faced a much tougher financial penalty and potentially a points deduction.
The starting point was the aggravating factors - length of time of the wrongdoing, the size of payments, that they were made with the knowledge of senior figures and the seriousness of the breaches.
The Premier League Board concluded Chelsea should be fined £20m with a transfer ban for two complete and consecutive windows.
But there were mitigating factors to take into account.
BlueCo, which bought Chelsea out of Abramovich's ownership, self-reported the breaches once it had looked through the club's books.
Added to that, BlueCo made voluntary disclosures and showed "exceptional co-operation".
This saw the fine halved to £10m and the two-window transfer ban suspended.
The suspension will be activated if they commit a similar breach in the next two years.
The Board also reserved the right to be able to trigger the suspension at any time in the future if the club makes intentionally untrue declarations.
Chelsea were, however, ordered to pay an unpaid transfer levy of £771,288 in connection to Willian and Eto'o.
Importantly, there was no breach of profit and sustainability rules.
When the payments were added to Chelsea's accounts they were not in excess of the £105m, three-season spending limit.
If they had been then the prospect of a points deduction would have been real.
They were, however, banned from signing academy players for nine months. This was related to separate charges involving impermissible contact to register academy players between 2019 and 2022.
The Blues had already been fined 10m euros (£8.6m) by Uefa over the payment offences between 2011 and 2018.
And Chelsea still have to face a hearing over 74 Football Association charges, which is likely to be another hefty fine.
So this is not quite over yet.
Source: BBC
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