After Manchester City were the subject of various 'Football Leaks' accusations via Der Spiegel earlier this month, Chelsea have become the new focus after details of alleged dealing were published in a handful of media outlets around Europe this week.
It has been said that Chelsea are facing a two-year transfer ban over an ongoing FIFA investigation relating to alleged illegal international transfers of underage players, while the club is also accused of handing illegal payments to the father of player Andreas Christensen.
And already on the subject of Kante a leaked email has revealed that the player chose not to use offshore tactics for tax avoidance purposes, despite the alleged offer from Chelsea that 10% of his salary be paid to a company registered in Jersey.
When it came to actually signing Kante, 'Football Leaks' details shared by L'Equipe suggest that Chelsea blew PSG out of the water when appealing to his agents, so much so that director Marina Granovskaia was apparently worried what owner Roman Abramovich would think.
French clubs are limited to paying just 10% commission to agents during the transfer process, a rule that does not currently apply to English clubs. Therefore one leaked document seemed to suggest PSG were resigned to losing out because what they could as commission was so little.
It is said that Chelsea upped the agent commission to a vast 30%, playing a total of €12m to Gregory Dakad, who took €7.2m, and Abdelkarim Douis, who received €4.8m. The transfer was €38.5m but it would appear that Chelsea splashed out a shade over €50m to ensure that Kante's agent pointed the player in the direction of Stamford Bridge.
When Granovskaia briefed Abramovich about the deal that had been arranged and the figures involved, her email is alleged to have warned, 'Do not faint!'.
Official FA figures covering both transfer windows of the 2016/17 campaign revealed Chelsea paid a total of £25m to agents that season. They paid a similar amount last season, while Premier League clubs paid a combined £174m and then £211m to agents in those seasons.
Source: 90min
