Transfer embargo placed on Chelsea

[Assassin]

[red g]

Nearly spat out my coffee!!!!

[Craig_H]

[cadmium]

Let's just hope FIFA stick to this and uphold the ban on appeal

[red g]

Let's just hope FIFA stick to this and increase the ban on appeal

[Bender]

Chelsea insist they will "mount the strongest appeal possible" and say the sanctions are "totally disproportionate to the alleged offence".

A statement from the Premier League club added: "We cannot comment further until we receive the full written rationale for this extraordinarily arbitrary decision."

Fifa's dispute resolution chamber (DRC) ruled Kakuta, now 18, must also pay compensation of 780,000 euros (£682,000), for which Chelsea are "jointly and severally liable".

[anfieldanfield]

we laugh now

but if things don't go well for us this season

and chelsea are the only team who can stop the scum from winning the title,

then chelsea players leave for the african tournament
and injury problems occur.

we might not be too happy then

Not the worst shout in the world that.

Either way, Chelsea will appeal and probably get it overturned.

[Neil Young]

I thought "embarko" meant this might have been a Neil Young related thing

Two birds...

Don't worry, in the fullness of time it (like almost every other thread) will be.

......one stone

[dww]

Chelsea will suffer if transfer ban stands

Phil McNulty BBC 15:39 UK time, Thursday, 3 September 2009

Gael Kakuta was a name that barely registered on Chelsea's radar - let alone world football's - until he became the central figure in a landmark Fifa decision that could shape the short-term future at Stamford Bridge.

The 18-year-old winger, who the world governing body has adjudged was induced to breach a contract with Lens to join Chelsea in 2007, is regarded as a promising but hardly indispensable part of coach Carlo Ancelotti's plans.

Swift and with natural goalscoring flair, Kakuta was the Chelsea Academy scholar of the year in 2008, but his recent story has been a series of injuries that have stalled his progress.

He will now be sidelined for another four months as part of Fifa's wide-ranging punishment for his alleged poaching from Lens - most notably a ban on Chelsea signing any new players until January 2011.

Chelsea's rivals will see this as a chink in what has been impregnable armour so far this season, and this stranglehold on Ancelotti's transfer plans will provide a most unwelcome handicap as he fashions a new era at Stamford Bridge.

Even if Chelsea get the ban reduced with what they say will be "the strongest appeal possible" to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland, a distinct possibilty, at the very least they are likely to spend the rest of this season with everything crossed in the hope that injuries and suspensions can be avoided.

The January transfer window is traditionally a less than hectic time at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea have suggested in the past that, unless circumstances are exceptional, the calibre of players they require are not on the market in the shorter window because they are usually ineligible for the Champions League or clubs are unwilling sellers.

This January might be different if they fail to win an appeal, because of a twist of timing in football's packed calendar that leaves Chelsea, to some extent, at the mercy of the gods.

Chelsea are likely to lose Michael Essien, Salomon Kalou, Jon Mikel Obi and, arguably most crucially of all, Didier Drogba to the African Cup of Nations when it gets under way in Angola in early January.

This a blow big enough in itself. Now Ancelotti must hope further strain is not put on his resources when the season enters this crucial phase. The power of owner Roman Abramovich's chequebook has always been an important safety net in emergencies, now it is on the point of being pulled away from under Chelsea's coach by forces beyond his control.

Ancelotti's further concern, after a relatively low-key summer of activity in the transfer market, is that Chelsea's squad may be experienced but it will undoubtedly need freshening up during the period when the ban on transfers is scheduled to be imposed.

Chelsea are hardly a "Dad's Army" outfit, but they are not exactly youthful and light on their feet either. Young bloods are in short supply. Captain John Terry has a history of injuries in recent times and plenty of the squad are nearer the end of their careers than the start.

There is security in the long-term contracts signed by Terry and Ashley Cole, but Ancelotti will want to marshal everything at his disposal, including a transfer fund, throughout the course of a taxing season.

Of course what Chelsea have, and what Fifa can never take away, is an in-built resilience from the days of Jose Mourinho

And a punishment of this sort is only likely to stiffen a siege mentality as they go in search of their first Champions League, the Holy Grail, and also try to reclaim the Premier League title that has resided at Old Trafford for the past three seasons.

If Chelsea, as Fifa has ruled, induced Kakuta to leave the club that nurtured him, then it must be regarded as a laudible, landmark move to punish them.

Chelsea will now plead their case vehemently, but as a general principle any move to protect clubs from having young talent they have invested time, money and resources in spirited away without at least fitting financial compensation is to be applauded.

It may also mean in future that smaller clubs will feel on a firmer footing when standing up to the richer rivals ready to prey on their production line of talent.

Sympathy for Chelsea (of course the very words are likely to induce roars of laughter from around the community of Premier League supporters) may come with the hope that Fifa's net will claim more than just them.

If Fifa actually believes Chelsea are the only club guilty of this particular offence in world football, then naivety is being stretched to its furthest point. Are we to seriously believe that? I do not. This is a can of worms that has yet to be fully opened.

For now, however, Fifa has embarrassed Chelsea by putting them in the dock. And even if they are successful in wiping out a portion of the punishment, it still stands a blow to their chances of success this season.

Fifa's ruling might save Abramovich a few roubles on transfers - it might even get Kakuta a few games in the first team - but what will it cost when it comes to counting silverware? Chelsea must hope an investment in a promising, but unproven, youngster does not prove too expensive.

[cream]

They've got a solid squad anyway but it will be funny seeing Man city unsettle their players.

Good news though, gives us a clear run to sign Aguero or Ribery...oh wait, we won't be signing anyone aswell...

[cadmium]

I think this best sums up how Chelsea will be feeling right now

[fah-q]

That picture never fails to put a smile on my face.

[-V-]

[red g]

Chelsea have criticised FIFA's transfer ban as "totally disproportionate" and pledged to launch the strongest possible appeal against it.

English club guilty of inducing winger Gael Kakuta, 18, to breach his contract with French club Lens and banned the Blues from registering any new players for the next two transfer windows.

But Chelsea are astonished by the ruling, both in terms of the ban and the financial punishment, and in a brief statement the English club said they would be launching "the strongest appeal possible".

A statement from the club read: "Chelsea will mount the strongest appeal possible following the decision of FIFA's Dispute Resolution Chamber over Gael Kakuta.

"The sanctions are without precedent to this level and totally disproportionate to the alleged offence and the financial penalty imposed.

"We cannot comment further until we receive the full written rationale for this extraordinarily arbitrary decision."

Lens requested compensation for Kakuta as well as calling for sanctions to be imposed on the FA Cup holders and FIFA's DRC agreed that Chelsea had indeed been guilty of inducing the youngster to break his contract and announced their verdict in a short statement.

"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," said FIFA.

"The DRC found that the player had indeed breached a contract signed with the French club. Equally, the DRC deemed it to be established that the English club induced the player to such breach.

"As a result the player was condemned to pay compensation in the amount of EUR 780,000, for which the club, Chelsea, is jointly and severally liable, and sporting sanctions were imposed on both the player and Chelsea in accordance with art. 17 par. 3 and 4 of the Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players.

"A restriction of four months on his eligibility to play in official matches is imposed on the player Gael Kakuta while the club Chelsea is banned from registering any new players, either nationally or internationally, for the two next entire and consecutive registration periods following the notification of the present decision.

"Furthermore, Chelsea, has to pay RC Lens training compensation in the amount of EUR 130,000."

Kakuta, a skilful left-winger, is viewed as one of Chelsea's most promising young players. He ended his first season as top scorer in the youth side and was voted the academy's player of the year. However, last February his season was ended by a double fracture of his ankle.

Meanwhile the club's chief executive Peter Kenyon has hailed the new contracts signed by Ashley Cole, John Terry and Didier Drogba.

Kenyon says the new deals were a key part of Chelsea's summer activity and hinted that England midfielder Joe Cole would be next to sign a contract extension.

The Blues made only one big signing this summer, with Russian Yuri Zhirkov arriving from CSKA Moscow for £18million - and the new deals for their top stars could become even more important in the wake of FIFA's decision to ban the club from signing new players.

Kenyon insists that the new long-term contracts signed by Cole, Terry and Drogba are as important as signing three world-class players.

"We've concentrated very hard this summer in retaining the players we have. Inevitably in a transfer window it is all about who you bring in but we shouldn't overlook who we have got," said Kenyon.

"If you look at Drogba, Terry or Cole, they are world-class players that could walk into any other team in Europe and I am delighted that we have retained them."

And Kenyon believes Joe Cole will be next. He has been out of action since January following knee ligament damage and his current contract expires next June.

"Joe is just back in training and we are all delighted to see that. We want - and he wants - to remain at Chelsea

[red g]

http://www.football365.com/story/0,17033,8750_5535910,00.html

few thoughts in immediate response to the news that Chelsea have been banned from signing players in the next two transfer windows...


* The starting point to any reaction has to be the expectation that a) Chelsea will appeal the ruling and b) their punishment will be reduced upon appeal.


Chelsea will be encouraged by the precedent set in 2005 when, after Roma were banned from signing any players in two windows, the Court of Arbitration for Sport later halved the punishment.


But this is not an unlawful ruling as per FIFA's own rulebook. In their regulations for the Status and Transfer Of Players, paragraphs three and four of Article 17 state: "It shall be presumed, unless established to the contrary, that any club signing a professional who has terminated his contract without just cause has induced that professional to commit a breach. The club shall be banned from registering any new players, either nationally or internationally, for two registration periods."


And there's another consideration that should trouble Chelsea. In April, Swiss club Sion were also banned from signing any new players for two windows and immediately launched an appeal. CAS duly froze their punishment ahead of a verdict that has still yet to be delivered. If that months-long timescale is repeated with the Chelsea case then it's likely that any one-window punishment would have to be served next summer rather than in January. Given that it is notoriously difficult to sign players in January compared to the summer, any such belated reduction would be of meagre relief to the Londoners.


Moreover, if their punishment is still frozen pending the outcome of their appeal when the transfer window opens again in three months' time, Chelsea will have to wrestle with the dilemma of deciding who to buy without knowing whether they'll have to be passive onlookers for one or two transfer windows - if any.


* And if the ban is upheld, Chelsea are in the mire. To repeat an observation made in the latest edition of Winners and Losers: Out of the ten outfield players selected from the start against Burnley, six were aged over 30 while Michael Essien was the youngest at a relatively mature 26.


Their ageing squad will require freshening up soon and, having made just one signing this summer, a couple of acquisitions in January were not out of the question to act as cover for the African Nation Cup absentees.


The ruling will thus focus attention on the work of Frank Arnesen with Chelsea's academy. After his four years at the club in charge of youth development, the only youngster on the verge of a breakthrough to the first team is Michael Mancienne.


So the ban, from the perspective of Chelsea being a buying club rather than a making club, amounts to a massive problem and given that few top-range players are available in mid-summer it may not be until the summer of 2011 that Chelsea will be able to carry out the rebuilding work they probably should have started on in the four months just past.


As far as the Champions League is concerned, it looks to be this season or most probably never.


* One of the multitude of unanswered questions at this stage is whether Chelsea were warned in advance of this ban, put into effect just two days after the closure of the latest transfer window. It's reasonable to assume that if Chelsea saw it coming then they would have splashed out.


Instead, given they prioritised securing contract extensions, they have effectively suffered a three-window ban - or four if you accept the point that a limited number of 'top' players move in January.


Meanwhile, those Chelsea players who didn't sign a contract extension this summer are now sitting pretty in an ultra-strong negotiating position.


* Beyond the headline ban on transfers, the ruling is peculiar in a couple of respects: Firstly, the punishment meted out against Chelsea is wholly out of kilter with the compensation that Lens will receive (less than one million pounds). Secondly, the player himself has been banned from playing in official matches for four months, an arbitrary-sounding period which is nonetheless a severe blow to an 18-year-old player who suffered a double leg fracture in February.


* One interpretation of this ruling is that FIFA have made a stand to protect the sanctuary of contracts. That's a fine principle to uphold, but until more clubs suffer similar punishments then the judgement will be viewed as harsh, unfair and draconian. Coming on the day that it emerged that UEFA's suspension of Eduardo will be a one-off, it will also fuel plenty of conspiracy talk of a witch-hunt against English clubs.


Such hysteria can be allayed by the reminders that FIFA meted out identical punishments against Roma and, as recently as April, Sion.


Yet, following on so quickly from the Eduardo furore, it does appear that football's governing bodies are determined to make a stand against the game's big clubs. Deliberate policy or not, it is a risky position, and one upshot from this ruling, and the farcical handling of the Eduardo case, will be renewed talk of a breakaway league.


* It's already being speculated that Chelsea will be able to sign out-of-contract players. The statement released by FIFA apparently indicates otherwise in its unequivocal declaration that 'Chelsea are banned from registering any new players'.


* So much for international weeks being dull. And the notion that big clubs enjoy preferential treatment.


* A single press release has transformed Gael Kakuta from a complete unknown to an essential name for pub-quizzers.


* If the banning is upheld, how long before the papers start speculating who Chelsea will sign in 18 months' time?