Chelsea hope for financial settlement to secret payments dispute

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Chelsea are in negotiations with the Premier League to agree a financial settlement for secret payments related to transfers made during Roman Abramovich's ownership.

The club are understood to be in talks over a financial settlement rather than a sporting sanction such as a points deduction, on the basis that the new owners discovered the payments during the May 2022 takeover process and reported them to the Premier League and Uefa.

The outcome of the negotiations is expected before the end of March, with the club confident there can be an agreement similar to the £8.6million financial settlement made with Uefa in July 2023.

The Times revealed in 2023 that the Premier League was investigating alleged irregular payments related to Willian and Samuel Eto'o being signed by Chelsea in 2013. Payments connected to the signing of Eden Hazard in 2012 have also been under investigation.

Normally secret payments related to transfers would lead to tough sanctions such as points deductions but Chelsea have argued that any rule breaches took place under a different ownership ten years ago, and indeed the payments would not have been revealed and reported had it not been for the new owners' due diligence process.

The Premier League's rulebook allows for a "sanction agreement" between its board and a club, which must then be ratified by the league's Judicial Panel. Sanction agreements could include a points deduction but Chelsea are understood to be insistent that, as with Uefa, any financial payment would be a settlement rather than a sanction.

A source with knowledge of the negotiations said talks were continuing and that the case involved events that took place many years before Todd Boehly and Clearlake, Chelsea's owners, were involved with the club, and that it was their work that had brought the irregular payments to light.

Although the case is not related to recent Profitability and Sustainability Rules, if the outcome is a financial settlement that could raise eyebrows among fans of other clubs given that Everton and Nottingham Forest received points deductions last season for breaching the limit of permitted losses.

In August, the Premier League's chief executive, Richard Masters, said the investigation was "reaching a conclusion", adding that: "What we are talking about is something historic."

Leaked documents obtained by The Guardian in 2023 appeared to show that the former Chelsea director, Marina Granovskaia, was sent copies of agreements related to payments around the transfers of Willian, Eto'o and Hazard. Granovskaia, a 50-year-old Russian-Canadian who previously worked as an aide for Abramovich, has previously declined to comment, saying she was "not available". She did not respond to follow-up messages.

In a 2023 statement, Chelsea referred to "potentially incomplete financial reporting concerning historical transactions during the club's previous ownership" that had been flagged up during the takeover process, and that they were "proactively" assisting the investigations.

The statement said: "These allegations pre-date the club's current ownership. They concern entities that were allegedly controlled by the club's former owner and do not relate to any individual who is presently at the club. Immediately following the completion of the purchase, the club proactively self-reported these matters to all applicable football regulators."