Charlie Klein
English Premier League flavour of the week Chelsea FC have been banned by FIFA, world football's governing body, from two transfer windows following their illegal pursuit and signing of Lens' Gael Kakuta in 2007.
In spite of being warned that the signing of Kakuta would result in severe sanctions, Chelsea proceeded with signing their 2008 Youth Academy Scholar of the Year. Lens former general manager Francis Collado said, "I warned them this was going to happen. People used to think that nothing could happen to big clubs like Chelsea, AC Milan, Real Madrid or Barcelona."
According to Collado, who left Lens ten months ago, "They said take this (a sum of money attempted to silence Lens) and shut up. I rejected it and said watch out gentleman under the rules you risk, first of all, a fine and you risk a ban on transfers."
As it turns out, Collado was right. This ruling begs the question, is a 15 year-old 'prodigal' talent like Kakuta worth breaking FIFA rules in order to sign? That is very debatable. Surely Chelsea will rue their decision should FIFA deny their appeal, as especially for a team such as their's which is older and more injury prone than the other big four sides, it could lead to a drop from the top and the Champions League. But if Kakuta turns into a Zidane or Henry, it could be worth all this trouble.
The ruling made by FIFA begs questions of Arsenal's pursuit of every youngster in world football. Surely Chelsea cannot be the only big club to be guilty of such skulduggery. It is almost comical in a way how foolish Chelsea have been in this matter.
No comments:
Post a Comment