CHELSEA FACE FINANCIAL SCRUTINY OVER ‘SECRET PAYMENTS’

Chelsea FC looks set to face further scrutiny over how the Premier League football club was funded by its former owner Roman Abramovich after leaked files revealed a number of secret payments.

According to a report in The Guardian, leaked files show the Russian billionaire used offshore companies to make multi-million-pound transactions to agents and associates which appear to have been for the club’s benefit.

Any undeclared payments of this type would be a serious breach of the game’s financial fair play rules.

The revelations have arisen from a joint investigation between The Guardian and ‘international partners’ and could potentially lead to the Premier League imposing a punishment on Chelsea, with possible points deductions on the table.

Abramovich bought Chelsea in 2003 and invested millions over almost two decades as the club went on to win the Champions League in 2012 and 2021, as well as five Premier League titles.

The oligarch, who reportedly has close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, was forced to sell the club last year after his assets were frozen by the government when Russia invaded Ukraine.

Since then, both the Football Association (FA) and the Premier League have been investigating potential financial rule breaches after the West London club was fined £8.6m by UEFA as part of settlement for ‘submitting incomplete financial information’ between 2012 and 2019.

Those breaches were reported by the new Stamford Bridge ownership following the club’s sale to a consortium led by American investor Todd Boehly and private equity firm Clearlake Capital.

Now, Chelsea will be under the microscope once again after the uncovering of the ‘secret payments.’

Beneficiaries appear to include the agent of the star player Eden Hazard, an associate of the title-winning manager Antonio Conte and Chelsea FC officials. Other payments appear to have been connected to the purchase of the players Willian and Samuel Eto’o.

A Chelsea FC spokesperson, said, “These allegations pre-date the club’s current ownership. They are based on documents which the club has not been shown and do not relate to any individual who is presently at the club.”

The spokesperson said that during the purchase of the club – by a consortium led by the US investor Todd Boehly – the buyers became aware of “potentially incomplete financial reporting concerning historical transactions during the club’s previous ownership.

“Immediately following the completion of the purchase, the club proactively self-reported these matters to all applicable football regulators.

“In accordance with the club’s ownership group’s core principles of full compliance and transparency the club has proactively assisted the applicable regulators with their investigations and will continue to do so.”