Can Chelsea sign players this summer? Premier League suspended transfer ban explained | OneFootball

Chelsea have been handed a record £10.75m fine and a transfer ban suspended for two years after admitting to making undisclosed payments totalling more than £47m to unregistered agents and third parties.

The offences relate to player transfers between 2011 and 2018, when the club was owned by Roman Abramovich.

They were brought to the attention of the Premier League, Football Association and Uefa by the current owners in 2022 after being uncovered during their due diligence when buying the club.

In 2023 they were fined €10m (£8.6m) by Uefa for self-reported transactions that were made between 2012 and 2019. The FA’s separate investigation has not yet reached its conclusion.

The Premier League transfer ban announced on Monday is suspended for two years, while Chelsea have also been given a nine-month academy registration suspension.

But what does it mean for the club’s future transfer activity and could there be further punishments down the line? Here’s everything you need to know.

What are they being punished for?

The settlement agreement said that in total £47.5m was paid to a dozen different entities which were deemed to have “implicated one or more of the rules” that were enforced at the time.

That included payments worth £23m that were made to seven unregistered intermediaries in relation to the transfers of Samuel Eto’o, Eden Hazard, David Luiz, Nemanja Matic, Ramires, Andre Schurrle and Willian.

The breaches came to light when the BlueCo consortium were finalising their purchase of the club from Abramovich four years ago.

According to the Premier League, had they not been self-reported knowledge of the payments may never have come to light.

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The transfers of Eden Hazard (left) and David Luiz were among those referenced in the Premier League’s sanction agreement (Martin Rickett/PA) (PA Archive)

How will it impact the summer transfer window?

These sanctions will not affect the first team’s recruitment plans for this summer window, meaning head coach Liam Rosenior’s squad could face another period of significant change.

However, the club will not be able to register underage players who have previously been at another Premier League or EFL academy for the next nine months. The academy suspension does not relate to players already at the club or youngsters based abroad, though it could help rival academies when it comes to signing up and coming talent for the rest of this year.

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Chelsea’s first-team summer plans will not be affected (PA Archive)

No. The Independent understands that it was determined by independent accountants that there were no infractions around the league’s Profit and Sustainability Rules and will therefore have no implications.

Chelsea said they were “pleased to confirm that the club has reached a settlement with the Premier League … [having] voluntarily and proactively disclosed” the issues in 2022.

The league, meanwhile, said that Chelsea “demonstrated exceptional co-operation throughout the course of the investigation” – hinting that the new owners’ assistance informed the severity of their punishment, which could have included a sporting sanction.