Roman can buy another yacht, but not one more player.
It’s a standard joke around here that if a player is talented, young and French, then Arsene Wenger has already scouted him (I only had 1 out of 3). Gaël Kakuta fits those criteria “to a T” – the 18-year old winger from Lille started playing for RC Lens from the age of 10, and represented Les Bleus on the Under-17 squad at Euro Championship.
It was clear from early on that Kakuta would be among the crop of talented youngsters from France that would have EPL sides making inquiries. But it wasn’t Arsenal who made the move – it was Chelsea.
In 2007 Chelsea decided that they simply had to have Kakuta, and the move was made. In 24 appearances (20 starts) for the reserves, the winger had 12 goals, with 3 of those coming against Port Vale in the FA Youth Cup. While this lead to Gaël being named academy POY, his next season was cut short when he suffered a double ankle fracture. Despite the injury, Chelsea have high hopes for his future.
They had better hope he was worth it, because today FIFA decided that Chelsea was guilty of tapping up, and had induced Kakuta to break his contract with RC Lens. The result is a four-month match ban (meaning he will miss the Champions League matches, as he had just been added to side) and €780,000 ($1.1 million!) fine for Kakuta, and Chelsea must pay Lens €130,000 ($185,000), although I’m pretty sure that the Blues can afford it. Oh, and Chelsea are banned from making any transfer moves until the January 2011 window!
That means that no matter how much Roman wants some new toys, he is not allowed to buy any, either nationally or internationally, over the next 2 transfer windows. It’s a good thing that he is on the record about wanting to reduce spending. But what happens when Mikel, Essien, Drogba and Kalou are all away on international duty for the 2010 African Nations Cup (held in Angola). While key elements of the squad may miss significant periods of time between November and February, Chelsea will be unable to pick up any players to fill in the gaps on the pitch. Is a Sturridge-Anelka strike tandem enough? Will Ballack wake up long enough to patrol the midfield? The club will benefit some from the fact that their fixture schedule during that time is relatively unimposing, with only EPL matches against Man City (Dec. 5th) and Arsenal (Feb. 6th) standing out as stumbling blocks, and their only CL match coming against Apoel Nicosia on Dec. 8th at Stamford Bridge.
The club will most likely be challenging the decision, filing an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne (ah, the neutral Swiss!).
I have to know, NY Kid, What are the details of the DOUBLE ankle fracture…
I wonder if the team knew this was coming down with Abramovich challenging transfer fees and many players going on record with quotes that are very “this is our last shot” esque. Even if they can participate in next January’s transfer window, they won’t be able to do serious business until that summer. Very interesting development…
I believe that he broke both ankles, rather than breaking 1 ankle in 2 separate places.
Ha.
ahahahahahahaha
There’s no way FIFA summons the testicular fortitude to make this stick, but I am thoroughly enjoying this story.
Cue Cheatski apologists armed with tu quo que attacks in 5…4…3…2…
Roman’s personal SS will be very persuasive in closed door meetings with both Blatter and the Swiss I’m quite sure. This won’t stick: FIFA can’t possibly cripple the hype during the summer transfer season. Only a few clubs are capable of offering $50mil for top talent.
This is the perfect excuse for Roman Polanski to stop spending money. He’ll tell the lawyers to fight but not too hard because he doesn’t want to win.
completely unreasonable punishment. what did Chelsea do that is so different from Real Madrid’s year plus open flirtation with Ronaldo? Wtf? I guess I need to know more about what went down, but this is highly suspicious.
Oh, this is absolutely a conspiracy against Chelsea. A club that has clearly never done anything wrong, getting screwed by FIFA once again. It is not like Chelsea has a history of shady transfer dealings. First the Champions League and now this? An outrage!!!
Seriously though, f**k Chelsea.
I agree with the general f**k Chelsea sentiments but I’m curious, too, about how this is different than any other tapping up cases that go relatively unpunished. If, perhaps, this is a sign of severe punishments to come in similar circumstances (just like UEFA’s handling of Eduardo), that’s one thing, but it does look a bit heavy-handed.
Seems to me the difference is that Lens actually filed a complaint. ManU, to my knowledge, didn’t file a complaint over the CR scenario, nor did Spurs file one over the Berbatov thing. Lens actually pursued the issue, where other clubs are content to lick their wounds and take the money, or take contributions to team charities and other such things.
I say good for Lens.
Same ban that was given to Roma for tapping up Mexes (before they appealed) not sure what you people are seeing as curious here.
curious as to the difference between what occurred here and what happens all the time with Real Madrid, Chelsea, ManU, Liverfourth, and all big clubs.
They’ve been fined for tapping up players before, maybe it was a third strike kind of situation?
Liverpool have never successfully landed a transfer target they really wanted, so I don’t think they’re tapping people up.
It’s absolutley hilarious, I guess FIFA are finally trying to buckle down on these breach of contract issues… good for Lens.
Ohh, and BRAVO GeneralGametime!