Following Chelsea's Fifa-imposed transfer embargo we look at several controversial deals involving the Blues.
A look at several controversial deals involving Chelsea
Chelsea have been hit with a transfer ban after being found guilty by Fifa of inducing French winger Gael Kakuta to breach his contract with Lens when he joined in 2007.
The club have been involved in controversy on several occasions in recent seasons, notably in the following cases:
Erikssson meeting
When Chelsea were taken over by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich in 2003, coach Claudio Ranieri immediately found his job under threat. Days after the takeover, Abramovich was spotted meeting with England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson, although the club denied the Swede would take over at Stamford Bridge.
Cole approach
Chelsea, their manager Jose Mourinho and Ashley Cole were handed record fines in June 2005 after being found guilty in the Premier League's probe into allegations of an illegal approach to Cole.
Chelsea were fined £300,000 and given a suspended three-point deduction. Arsenal defender Cole, who later joined Chelsea, was handed a £100,000 fine (reduced to £75,000 on appeal), while Blues manager Jose Mourinho was ordered to pay £200,000 (reduced to £75,000 on appeal).
All three were said to have breached league rules by secretly meeting, without Cole's club knowing, at a London restaurant in January.
Leeds duo signed
Chelsea were accused by Leeds of breaking youth development rules by making approaches to three youth players, but in October 2006 Leeds withdrew their allegations and accepted a settlement fee.
Leeds had obtained mobile phone records of Chelsea's communications with Daniel Rose, Tom Taiwo and Michael Woods while they were attached to the Leeds academy.
Taiwo and Woods moved to Chelsea without transfer fees being agreed. A joint Premier League and Football Association investigation into the affair ended when Leeds withdrew their complaint.
Chelsea denied that the compensation, which was understood to involve staged payments, was as much as £5million, and they emphasised strongly that there had been no admission of liability. Chelsea denied making an illegal approach and initially offered Leeds £200,000 each for the players.
Mikel dispute
Last year saw Chelsea reach an agreement with Norwegian club Lyn Oslo in their dispute over the transfer of John Obi Mikel.
The Blues issued a High Court claim against Lyn and their former chief executive Morgan Andersen in October in an effort to recoup the £16million transfer fee they paid for the Nigerian.
Chelsea claimed the transfer was based on the "fraudulent misrepresentation that Mikel had an employment contract with Lyn".
Chelsea decided to take the matter to court after Andersen was convicted in Norway of forging documents relating to the player in 2005. He was given a one-year suspended sentence when the court case was concluded.
Mikel joined the Blues in 2006 after a wrangle involving Manchester United, who claimed to have reached an agreement to sign him the previous year.
United dropped their claim after the player made clear his desire to move to Stamford Bridge. In return Chelsea agreed to pay United £12million with £4million going to Lyn.
