Legal expert Stefan Borson thinks Chelsea might find themselves in hot water for allegedly using illegal means to land Eden Hazard and Willian ahead of Tottenham.
It was well documented back in 2012 that Tottenham were in for Hazard but after Spurs were denied Champions League qualification despite finishing fourth due to Chelsea winning the competition, it was the Blues who struck a deal to sign the Belgian from Lille.
The case of Willian is even more infamous, with the Brazilian saying ‘yes’ to Tottenham and even having a medical at the North London side before Chelsea hijacked the deal at the last moment (talkSPORT).
However, it has now emerged that the West London club allegedly used parallel contracts to artificially inflate player wages during Roman Abramovich’s regime.
This reportedly came to light during the Boehly-Clearlake takeover two years ago, with Chelsea admitting it themselves during the due diligence process, and Borson believes that the club may now face punishment for their actions.
The legal expert told talkSPORT: “What is interesting about these scenarios is that most of them occurred in competitive transfer situations for some very big players – players like Eden Hazard and Willian.
“They will have a problem, I think, arguing that there was no sporting advantage. We know from the Everton and Nottingham Forest cases that where the independent commissions sees sporting advantages, they like to go for sporting penalties.
“That is why I think there is a realistic prospect that this [punishment] won’t just be financial and it won’t just be transfer bans. It could be something more serious in terms of sanctions around sporting points and deductions.
“Just as an example, you look at Hazard and Willian in particular. Those were players that Spurs were in the running for. Spurs will argue that had those players signed for them, there would have been a different outcome on the field. We know a big driver of that is hidden payments. They have admitted that – it’s not in dispute.”
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While Tottenham have a right to feel hard done by, it is difficult to see Chelsea being handed a points deduction for offences they committed a decade ago, particularly given that the ownership has since changed. I suspect they might get away with a fine.
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