TRANSFER BLUES
Chelsea face two-year signing ban with FIFA set to act over Traore
CHELSEA face the threat of a two-year transfer ban following a long FIFA investigation into the signing of Bertrand Traore.
Officers from FIFA’s Integrity and Compliance Unit have spent three years delving into the Traore case and 13 other international transfers involving the London club and players aged under 18.
According to French online news site Mediapart, one of the organisations publishing the findings of Football Leaks, the unit recommends Chelsea are punished with a fine of £45,000 and an embargo on all signings to cover a total of four transfer windows.
One window relates to Traore (below) and the other three windows to offences involving the 13 other alleged offences. FIFA are investigating other Premier League clubs for similar breaches.
Burkina Faso international Traore first came to prominence at Chelsea when he impressed as a 17-year-old on a pre-season tour of Asia in 2013. He went on to sign his first professional contract later in the same year, after his 18th birthday in September, and was formally registered in the January 2014 transfer window.
Revelations by Mediapart, however, claim FIFA have found evidence to suggest Chelsea misled them regarding the real dates of the transfer and acted in bad faith.
Traore had played for Chelsea at the age of 16 in an Under-18 match against Arsenal.
The club also later admitted to FIFA they had paid his mother £155,000 in April 2011 to acquire a first-refusal option to sign him.
And a further £13,000 was paid to the club AJE Bobo-Dioulasso which was chaired by Traore’s mother.
It was also claimed that the agreement was an option for four-and-a-half years when the limit on any such an agreement for players under the age of 18 is set at three years.
Traore studied at the £20,000-a-year Whitgift School in Surrey between the ages of 16 and 18 but did not play in the football team.
He is alleged to have played in 25 games for Chelsea at different age levels without being registered by the FA.
After loan spells in Holland with Vitesse Arnhem and Ajax, Traore was sold to Lyon in June 2017 for an initial fee of £8.8million.
Chelsea last night declined to comment but, in 2016, when it became clear FIFA were looking into Traore’s transfer, the club said: ‘Bertrand Traore was registered by Chelsea FC in January 2014 in compliance with FA and Premier League Rules.
‘Prior to that date, he was party to an option agreement which enabled the club to acquire his registration in January 2014.
‘The option agreement was registered with, and approved by, The FA and the Premier League.’
Chelsea successfully appealed against a transfer ban at the Court of Arbitration for Sport in 2010 over the signing of Gael Kakuta from Lens.
Since 2014, Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid have been temporarily banned from trading after FIFA decided they had broken the rules regarding the transfer of minors.
FIFA rules state that Under-18s can only be transferred overseas if one of three criteria is met.
1. If the parents of the player move to the country for non-footballing reasons.
2. If both clubs are in the European Union or European Economic Area and the player is aged between 16 and 18.
3. If the player lives within 100km of the club. A FIFA spokesman added: ‘As communicated in September 2017, investigations were opened concerning Chelsea FC as well as other English clubs in relation to potential breaches of the Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players.
‘The proceedings are ongoing and, to date, no decision has been passed by the FIFA judicial bodies. ‘Thus, the clubs are to be presumed innocent unless decided otherwise. ‘No further information can be provided as the cases are ongoing. Any update will be communicated in due course.’