PA Media/dpa
London
Chelsea are reportedly seeking a financial settlement with the English Premier League over alleged irregular payments made as part of the deals that took Willian and Samuel Eto’o to the club in 2013.
As reported by The Times, the alleged payments were uncovered during the 2022 sale of the club to the Clearlake Capital consortium fronted by Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali.
The deals in question were struck under the ownership of Roman Abramovich, who was forced to sell after being placed under sanction by the UK government over his links to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
It is understood that any such settlement, should it be agreed upon, would be in place of sporting sanctions such as a points deduction, as was handed down last season to Everton and Nottingham Forest for breaching the league’s profit and sustainability rules.
The club reportedly alerted the league once the payments were uncovered as part of their due diligence before the sale was finalised in May 2022, a factor which it is hoped could help achieve a favourable outcome for the Blues since the issue would have been unlikely to have come to light otherwise.
The outcome of the negotiations is expected before the end of March.
The Premier League and Clearlake were approached by the PA news agency but declined to comment. Chelsea did not respond to a request for comment.
Both Willian and Eto’o were signed from Russian club Anzhi Makhachkala, a team from the Dagestan region in the south of the country who at the time were owned by billionaire oligarch Suleyman Kerimov.
Money is alleged to have been paid to parties in Russia over the two moves that did not include transfer fees.
Like Abramovich, Kerimov owed much of his fortune to the Russian oil industry and was responsible for bankrolling Anzhi as they went on a spending spree to recruit international superstars.
The club was sold in 2016 and liquidated six years later over outstanding debts.