Chelsea Slapped With Transfer Penalty and Gael Lakuta Seeks To Consolidate His Debts

Comfortably sitting in their velour padded suite at Stamford Bridge, spoon fed caviar by scantily clad beauties and waited on hand and foot, the fat cats at Chelsea will most likely have had a relaxing week after concentrating little time on the comings and goings during the transfer window.

Content with the army of internationals currently on their books, Chelsea knew if they needed an extra bit of sparkle come the New Year the window would once again re-open and Roman Abramovich could throw cheques out of it in search of success.

The news then that FIFA have slapped a transfer ban on the club until 2011 definitely scuppers their chances of a league title this season. The news also that it was because of the signing of unknown French youngster Gael Kakuta from Lens in 2007, makes it seem hardly worth the trouble.

Pushing for European and domestic silverware to line the trophy cabinet at the Bridge and smooth Abramovich’s ego, the news is a real punch in the face for the London club.

This whole mess was created in the wake of Lakuta’s departure form Lens. The French club lodged a complaint with FIFA who accused the blues of inducing the player when he was still under contract. The governing body upheld Lens’ complaint and took the bold step of banning Chelsea from registering any new players during the next two transfer windows, punishing Chelsea for their overly aggressive attempt at prizing a player away from a club when still under contract.

Perhaps if they brought in the likes of Lionel Messi or Wayne Rooney the aggravation of having to keep the purse strings closed could perhaps be deemed worthwhile. However to be punished over the signing of a useful prospect for the future is surely something those aggressive negotiating fat cats will be kicking themselves over. Or perhaps more likely getting one of the scantily clad beauties to do it for them.

To accompany their ban the club has also been fined a paltry €130k for their troubles.

The other culprit who has been misbehaving Kakuta, has also been fined for being naughty, but FIFA have clearly decide that he was a lot naughtier than Chelsea and have given him a heavy €780k fine.

Unlike his new employers, it is unlikely that Kakuta has the same disposable income as his partners in crime upstairs, so a fine that is nearly seven times that of the clubs seems mighty harsh.

Does this mean that his role in the whole scandal was nearly seven times worse than the clubs? Where is the kid going to get that amount of change from?

As a reserve he will hardly be on a wage that is going to break the bank, but being at a club who love to flash the cash means that he might have a few extra $$ in his bank account than most of his counterparts at other clubs.

However he is clearly going to need help and will possibly need to re-finance so that he can come out of this mess with a happy looking credit card bill. Thankfully though I think I know just the people.

Posted By Dan Mobbs - Thursday September 3, 2009.
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