Aston Villa and the rest of the Premier League will be keeping a close eye on Chelsea’s ongoing situation regarding potential Financial Fair Play (FFP) breaches.
According to reports, Chelsea could be handed a points deduction after leaked files revealed that a number of payments may have breached strict football rules.
The investigation covers a series of payments spread out over a decade worth tens of millions of pounds during Roman Abramovich’s time at the club.
Chelsea was sold to American businessman Todd Boehly last year for a reported £4.2billion deal.
The Guardian claims that the payments are reportedly “routed through offshore vehicles” which belong to the Russian billionaire.
The transactions, said to be for the Blues’ benefit, have resulted in some questioning whether the governing bodies were made aware of the accounts.
The Guardian adds that “four leading sports lawyers”
have told them that some of the payments may have broken both Premier League and UEFA regulations in regards to FFP.
Football finance expert Kieran Maguire said: “If there is proof that the club has used third-party transactions to circumvent the profitability and sustainability rules then sanctions would be either financial or a points deduction.
The latter is more likely as any commission investigating a club’s circumstances will want to put out a deterrent that dissuades others from repeating such behaviour.”
