A sports law expert has described Chelsea’s £10.75million fine and suspended transfer ban as the ‘deal of the decade’, arguing the club gained a sporting advantage from undisclosed payments under former owner Roman Abramovich. Simon Leaf, a partner at Three Points Law and co-author of a textbook on football and the law, said the Premier League’s sanction agreement with Chelsea “conflated” concepts to avoid a points deduction.
Leaf noted that the agreement does not mention the phrase ‘sporting advantage’ once, despite Chelsea admitting to £47.5million worth of unreported payments that facilitated signings including Eden Hazard. By contrast, the written reasons for points deductions against Everton and Nottingham Forest referenced the term six and 31 times respectively. “That is a significant sleight of hand,” Leaf told the Press Association.
The Premier League justified the absence of a sporting sanction by stating the payments would not have pushed Chelsea beyond the profitability and sustainability rules (PSR) loss threshold. But Leaf said this reasoning “does not hold”, as PSR encompasses multiple obligations around transparency and disclosure. “Deliberate deception and concealment – however serious – sits in a different, lesser category. That is a perverse hierarchy,” he added.
Leaf believes Manchester City, facing over 100 charges of alleged financial breaches, will be “heartened” by the outcome. He said the league appeared to be taking a “softer, more conciliatory approach” in recent cases. The Premier League has been contacted for comment.
