The Guardian have an exclusive report today focused on a scandal which threatens to have serious consequences for Chelsea.
The club are set to be questioned about their funding during the period in which they were owned by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich. He apparently made off the record payments to help circumvent financial fair play rules.
Among those who received payments were Eden Hazard’s agent, someone close to Antonio Conte, plus the previously reported dodgy payments to Russian clubs for Willian and Samuel Eto’o.
The new ownership have already flagged up several inconsistencies which they discovered in the books upon taking over, but this looks bigger and potentially more damaging than anything we’ve seen so far.
Football finance expert Kieran Maguire, quoted in the piece, says that a points deduction would be “more likely” than a financial penalty if the breaches are proved, in order to provide a deterrent to other clubs.
FFP is a UEFA project, but the FA are also investigating Chelsea.