The Premier League’s CEO, Richard Masters, believes that the investigation into Chelsea and their former owner Roman Abramovich’s payments is ‘reaching a conclusion’.
The Blues have been under investigation since November due to a host of leaked documents that are alleged to show breaches of the Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules. In those leaked documents, a string of payments under the club’s previous owner Abramovich were found to have been ‘routed through offshore vehicles’ spread over the course of a decade valued at tens of millions of pounds.
The Russian billionaire was forced to sell the Blues in May 2022 after the Russian invasion of Ukraine saw his assets in Britain frozen with American billionaire Todd Boehly and his Clearlake consortium taking up the mantle at Stamford Bridge. Discovered through a joint investigation by the Guardian and a group of international outlets including the Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ) and Germany’s Paper Trail Media, the transactions are believed to be for Chelsea’s benefit, with some questioning whether the governing bodies were made aware of the accounts.
Those that benefitted from the payments are claimed to include an associate of the title-winning manager Antonio Conte, Chelsea legend Eden Hazard’s agent as well as Chelsea FC officials. Back in October, the Blues’ acquisition of both Willian and Samuel Eto’o also came into question after it was revealed that a company owned by Abramovich also made payments that appear to have benefited fellow Russian billionaire Suleiman Kerimov, the owner of Anzhi Makhachkala whom the pair played for.
In just two days, the Cameroonian striker and the Brazilian winger joined the Blues, although the latter was in controversial fashion as Willian had all but written his signature on a contract with Chelsea’s bitter rivals Tottenham. However, one phone call from Abramovich to Kerimov later and he arrived at Stamford Bridge the next day.
It was then revealed that two months prior to the deals, the Abramovich-owned Leiston Holdings had paid two companies connected to Kerimov for “services in […] relating to football, including scouting and other football-related advice”.
Back in November, the Guardian claimed ‘four leading sports lawyers’ have told them that some of the payments may have broken both Premier League and UEFA regulations in regards to FFP, with football finance expert Kieran Maguire also claiming that a financial penalty or burden is less likely than a points deduction on Mauricio Pochettino’s side.
He said: “If there is proof that the club has used third party transactions to circumvent the profitability and sustainability rules then sanctions would be either financial or a points deduction. The latter is more likely as any commission investigating a club’s circumstances will want to put out a deterrent that dissuades others from repeating such behaviour.”
Back in January, Masters had admitted that the Blues’ investigation was still ongoing and that they would not announce any outcome until the investigation was complete. Now, he’s claimed that while the investigation is not yet fully finished, an announcement of a date where the findings will be released is nearing.
Speaking to talkSPORT, he claimed: “This is probably an unsatisfactory answer for you but obviously what we’re talking about is something historic. It’s very complicated because we have the club talking to us about something that happened under a previous ownership, and all I can say is that that investigation, those discussions are reaching a conclusion.
“But until they have reached a conclusion, I can’t really tell you about what’s going to happen next.”
