Blues fury after FIFA refuse to delay ban

CHELSEA have accused FIFA of ‘astonishing’ double standards after the governing body denied their request to freeze the club’s transfer ban.

The club are now preparing legal proceedings against FIFA through the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

It was announced last month that Chelsea will be banned from registering new players for two transfer windows until January 2020 after the club were deemed to have breached rules regarding the signing of overseas players under the age of 18. A FIFA investigation cited breaches in 29 of the 92 cases they studied involving Chelsea, with forward Bertrand Traore, now at Lyon, the most widely suspected transfer. Chelsea were fined £460,000 and the FA £390,000 for their part in overseeing the transfers.

Chelsea deny wrongdoing and have appealed. They hoped FIFA would follow precedents set for Spanish clubs. Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid have all received transfer bans. Barcelona were granted a year during the appeal process, in which they signed Ivan Rakitic. Chelsea therefore expected to be able to buy players in this summer’s window but FIFA have a new head of their appeals committee and the club now face the scenario of being unable to sign anybody next season.

The problem is compounded by the desire of Eden Hazard (below) and Callum Hudson-Odoi to leave. Both have contracts that are due to expire in 2020 and should the club force them to stay for another year, they could go for nothing in 15 months.

A club statement read: ‘Chelsea Football Club is astonished by the FIFA appeal committee’s decision not to suspend its sanction pending completion of the appeal process.

‘So far as the club is aware, in all previous cases where a registration ban has been imposed by FIFA, a decision has also been made to suspend the sanction until the appeal process has been completed. Chelsea considers that it is being treated inconsistently in comparison with other European clubs.’

Chelsea midfielder Ruben LoftusCheek, meanwhile, has revealed he has been hampered by a back problem for six years and has turned to yoga to control the injury. The 23- year- old has not started a game since going off with a recurrence of his back issue in the FA Cup third-round against Nottingham Forest on January 5. He said: ‘I tried to push through it but it was one of those where if I’d carried on, I would have done more damage. I’ve been doing yoga. I’m not very good at it but I have to

start somewhere!’