Breaking News: Premier League drop Chelsea FFP investigation hint amid points deduction verdict

Chelsea’s FFP probe result is hinted to by the Premier League amid the decision to penalise points.
Since November of last year, when records were reportedly leaked revealing a series of unlawful payments, the Blues have been the subject of an inquiry.

Chelsea may be handed a points deduction this season for rogue payments made by former owner Roman Abramovich. (Image: Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images)

Richard Masters, the CEO of the Premier League, feels that the inquiry into payments made by Chelsea to its former owner Roman Abramovich is “coming to a close.”

Since November, the Blues have been the subject of an investigation because of numerous documents that were leaked and purportedly showed violations of the Financial Fair Play (FFP) regulations. Tens of millions of pounds’ worth of payments made to the club under previous owner Abramovich were discovered to have been “routed through offshore vehicles” during a ten-year period in the stolen records.

Due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Russian oligarch was forced to sell the Blues in May 2022, with American billionaire Todd Boehly and his Clearlake group taking over at Stamford Bridge. The transactions, which were uncovered by the Guardian and a number of other international media outlets, including Germany’s Paper Trail Media and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ), are thought to be for Chelsea’s advantage, though some have questioned whether the governing bodies were informed of the accounts.

It is alleged that Chelsea FC officials, Eden Hazard’s agent, and an associate of championship-winning manager Antonio Conte benefited from the payments. When it was discovered in October that payments made by an Abramovich-owned company also appeared to have benefited fellow Russian billionaire Suleiman Kerimov, the owner of Anzhi Makhachkala, the team that Willian and Eto’o played for, the Blues’ acquisition of both players was also called into question.

The Brazilian winger and the Cameroonian striker both signed for the Blues in the span of two days, albeit the latter’s signing was contentious as Willian had already signed a deal with Chelsea’s fierce rivals Tottenham. But after one phone contact between Abramovich and Kerimov, the following day he arrived at Stamford Bridge.

Then it was disclosed that the Abramovich-owned Leiston Holdings had paid two Kerimov-affiliated businesses for “services in [..] relating to football, including scouting and other football-related advice” two months previous to the purchases.

The Premier League and UEFA regulations regarding FFP may have been broken by some of the payments, according to ‘four leading sports lawyers’ who told the Guardian back in November. Football finance expert Kieran Maguire also asserted that Mauricio Pochettino’s chances of facing a financial penalty or burden were lower than those of losing points.

“Sanctions would be either financial or a points deduction if there is proof that the club has used third party transactions to circumvent the profitability and sustainability rules,” he stated. The latter is more plausible since any commission looking at the conditions of a club would want to issue a warning to others so they won’t repeat the same behaviour.”

Masters had previously acknowledged in January that the Blues’ investigation was still underway and that they would not make any announcements regarding its conclusion until it was finished. He now asserts that although the inquiry is not yet complete, the announcement of the date the results will be made is getting closer.

“This is probably an unsatisfactory answer for you but obviously what we’re talking about is something historic,” he asserted in a statement to talkSPORT. The investigation and conversations are coming to an end, but all I can say is that the club is talking to us about something that happened under a prior ownership, which makes it very problematic.

“But until they have reached a conclusion, I can’t really tell you about what’s going to happen next.”