Kia Joorabchian’s involvement could hinder Chelsea’s move for Ramires
With the departure of a number of experienced players from the Chelsea line-up, the club have been in the transfer market looking to replace them as soon as possible and one of the men in line to be added to the West London team’s squad is Benfica man, Ramires.
The 20 Million Pound move for the Brazilian midfielder looked to be on the verge of completion but now it looks like there may be a little problem due to the involvement of agent Kia Joorabchian. Joorabchian was previously involved in the controversial transfers of Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano to West Ham which were investigated by the Premier League and found to be in violation of their transfer regulations. The Premier League has since made it clear that in cases where the ownership of a player belongs to a third party; the transfer to the Premier League will be blocked due to violations of their regulations.
Kia Joorabchian owns half the rights to the Brazilian midfielder and of the funds transferred due to Ramires moving to Chelsea, would have to be given to him as well. Premier League rules require all payment of a transfer to go directly to the football club.
This news comes after a series of investigations into transfers last year revealed a huge chunk of the payments going to agents and other third parties which means that the club who help a player improve and pay his wages does not benefit from selling his rights and so money goes out of football.
Chelsea, who were hoping that the deal would be concluded as soon as possible, may yet have to look elsewhere as this deal looks like it is going to lead to problems with the FA. After being banned for two transfer windows following the signing the French youngster, Gael Kakuta, from Lens, Chelsea will be more cautious going into another deal which could potentially be detrimental to the club’s image.
Although the ban at the time was overturned after an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, the damage had been done as Chelsea were unable to sign anyone during the first transfer window following the incident and the player, Kakuta, could not play football for four months due to the ban imposed on him.
When the Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano deal was brokered, the London club managed to stay under the radar, not declaring the fact that the players were owned by Kia Joorabchian. At the time it looked like the Premier League would let West Ham go unpunished but justice caught up with them and they were deservedly fined in the region of 5 Million Pounds.
Chelsea will be reluctant to go down a similar route knowing how the Premier League is likely to react but in the process of following well thought out regulations, it seems that the League will miss out on a very talented player who could help raise the profile of a competition which is starting to take a back seat to the Spanish La Liga.
This transfer may continue to be dragged on as we head towards the start of the season just like the Cesc Fabregas transfer saga, but both clubs will be trying hard to reach a quick resolution to the deal in order to move on with their plans, with Chelsea looking to have all their new players training with each other in order to help them settle in and Benfica using the funds to find a replacement for Ramires at the heart of their midfield.
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