Thieves! Chelsea hit with transfer ban until 2011 for 'stealing' Gael Kakuta

06 September 2009 14:29
Chelsea have been branded thieves after being hit by FIFA with an astonishing transfer ban that will stop manager Carlo Ancelotti signing players for two transfer windows. The punishment is for luring 16-year-old Gael Kakuta from Lens in the summer of 2007. Lens’ president Gervais Martel was damning in his verdict on Chelsea while applauding the world governing body for taking such a tough stance. And Didier Roudet, the Lens general secretary, told Sportsmail that Chelsea ‘offered the player’s family a lot of money to leave’. He said: ‘At 14, Kakuta and his father signed a youth pre-contract promising to sign for Lens when he turned 16. When he finished his youth development Lens wished to apply the contract and bring the player back but his father no longer agreed to this. He wanted to go to Chelsea.’ Officials at Stamford Bridge insist they were not in breach of any regulations, claiming the youngster was not under contract with the French club. They now plan to appeal by taking the case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne. In explaining what is a complex issue, Phillipe Piat, co-president of the French players’ union and president of FIFPro, the international players’ union, explained the background to the contract breach. But Martel, applauding the FIFA action, said: ‘It’s a logical decision. They stole the lad off us when he was 16. He was at our place since the age of eight-and-a-half, but unfortunately 95 times out of 100 it’s the English clubs who come and help themselves.’ Lens, who lodged a complaint with FIFA when Kakuta signed for Chelsea two years ago, wanted £4.25m in compensation but FIFA’s Dispute Resolution Chamber, recognising such a sum would be unlikely to deter a club as wealthy as Chelsea in the future, decided to hit them where it hurts. They have been ordered to pay £115,000 training compensation to Lens, and are also liable for the £680,000 compensation sum ordered against Kakuta himself, who is banned from playing for four months. A FIFA statement said: ‘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. 'A restriction of four months on his eligibility to play in official matches is imposed on Gael Kakuta while Chelsea are banned from registering any new players, either nationally or internationally, for the two next entire and consecutive registration periods.’ While Chelsea are quietly confident the punishment will be reduced on appeal, the controversy puts the future of sporting director Frank Arnesen into doubt. He is in charge of recruitment and was instrumental in signing Kakuta. Chelsea last night branded the punishment ‘totally disproportionate and extraordinary’ and vowed to launch the strongest possible appeal. A club statement read: ‘Chelsea will mount the strongest appeal possible. 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.’ Roudet met with Arnesen and chief executive Peter Kenyon when Lens first complained of Chelsea’s actions. ‘We sat with them and told them the player was under contract but they argued that he was not,’ said Roudet. ‘All I can say is that our lawyers are very confident of their position and so are FIFA. ‘Lens are a little team. Chelsea are a big team with a lot of money and, for sure, the player’s family were offered a lot of money. We couldn’t keep the player.’ Chelsea refuse to be drawn on the question of whether they paid money for the player, and refute all of the Lens allegations on the basis that they believe he was not under contract to the French club.

Source: Daily_Mail