The Court of Arbitration of Sport on Thursday said Chelsea and French club Lens had reached a settlement on their dispute over French player Gael Kakuta, definitively lifting sanctions on the London club.
The two sides and world football’s governing body FIFA agreed that the contract between the player and Lens was not valid and Chelsea could not have been liable for inducing a breach of contract, the CAS said.
“As a consequence, in light of these new circumstances, the sanctions imposed upon Chelsea FC and the player by the FIFA Dispute Resolution Chamber had to be lifted,” the court added in a statement.
FIFA had ruled last September that Kakuta’s 2007 move from Lens to Stamford Bridge was illegal, and imposed a a 16-month transfer ban on Chelsea.
However, CAS temporarily lifted the ban on November 6.
Kakuta, then a Lens player, was only 15 years-old when he signed up with the English club.
Lens felt that Chelsea had used their wealth to “steal” a young player that they had nurtured, and had complained to FIFA.
whoa-hoooo Fiiiiiifa…
quick to pull the trigger there…I understand tho – it’s a shoot-first-act-questions later kind of world we live in…guilty until proven innocent…haha.
So, all remains well in Blues-ville…actually – it’s better than we thought since we were all expecting the transfer ban to be upheld.
I’m very glad this whole proceeding came when it did…Roman has helped to clear debt (again), the squad is stronger than before (with the same players), and now the transfer market is open to Chelsea again…a lot of positives there to take forward…
Yeah, I knew you would be happy CFC Fan.
But keep in mind MUFC is lurking in the background. . . keep your feet on the ground.