Chelsea stance on Man City compensation as Arsenal, Man United and Liverpool take action

Chelsea have not joined Arsenal, Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United in lodging a legal notice that would enable them to seek compensation in the event of Manchester City being found guilty of serious alleged breaches of financial controls.

Back in January, City were hit with 115 charges by the Premier League relating to financial irregularities over a period of some 10 years. City have denied any wrongdoing and the case is currently being heard by an independent commission who will deliver its verdict by early next year.

On Wednesday, The Times revealed that Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United, and Tottenham Hotspur had all lodged legal notices after clubs were made aware of a legal argument that meant they may be time-barred from seeking compensation due to the length of time that has passed since City’s alleged breaches became apparent.

The same report went on to claim that Chelsea had refrained from seeking to lodge such legal notices, the reason for the decision being that the club had to contend with their own investigation from the Premier League, relating to irregular payments made during the Roman Abramovich era, payments which the club had self-reported to the Premier League earlier this year.

In relation to the City case, lawyers of the four clubs advised them that there was a potential six-year statute of limitations period dating from November 5, 2018, which was the date when the German website Der Spiegel first published the Football Leaks documents.

Following those allegations, Manchester City faced a legal battle with UEFA, one where they were initially handed a two-year ban from European competition before that decision was overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport. A significant part of Manchester City’s successful defence in that matter was that the alleged breaches of financial regulation were time-barred.

In the event of City being found guilty, clubs could seek compensation for such things as loss of income from merit payments or missing out on such things as lucrative Champions League qualification. Any such attempt to gain compensation would not be done through the courts as they are not permitted to sue each other through that process.

It would instead be done through arbitration under the Premier League’s ‘Section X’. Chelsea have refrained from doing the same, with the club potentially having to face a similar scenario should they be found guilty for the alleged irregular payments that occurred between 2012 and 2019 and related to the transfers of, among others, Willian and Eden Hazard.

Chelsea alerted both the Premier League and UEFA to the payments after Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital acquired the club in the wake of Abramovich’s forced sale following sanctions on Russia by the UK government after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Any club that wished to seek compensation in the event of a guilty decision on Chelsea’s part would have six years from when the story became public, which was 2023, to file any notice for compensation related to potential loss of income. After 2029 it would become time-barred.

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Chelsea ended the 2023/24 Premier League season on a high, but it is never quiet at Stamford Bridge and the summer looks set to be one full of news, with question marks over Mauricio Pochettino's future at the club and plenty of talk around transfers.

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