Chelsea have been hit with new allegations of rule breaches after being accused of making illegal payments to Andreas Christensen’s father when they signed the Denmark international.
Documents obtained by Football Leaks and published on Thursday in the Danish newspaper Politiken claim Sten Christensen was hired as a scout on the same day Andreas was brought in from Brondby in 2012, aged 15.
The purported copies of Chelsea’s consultancy agreements show Christensen Sr was paid £11,400 per month plus VAT for four years, totalling £656,640, while he was still employed by Brondby as a goalkeeper coach. Politiken report there is no evidence that Christensen Sr did any scouting during those four years.
Premier League rules prohibit inducements to young players and their families, with Liverpool and Everton each fined and banned from signing Under-18 players in the past two years.
A Premier League spokesman told Sportsmail on Thursday: ‘Should we receive any substantive material that indicates that our rules may have been broken, we will of course investigate it.’
When contacted by Politiken, Christensen Sr reportedly said:
‘It sounds like a story you have got from someone in Ukraine or something like that. I have no comment whatsoever. You’ll have to ask Chelsea about that.
‘That is not something I want to discuss. That’s the way it is. If you want to use information hacked from Chelsea then go ahead.’
A Chelsea spokesman said: ‘We do not comment on speculation about confidential contracts or player-related cases.’
The Football Leaks documents published in Politiken suggested Manchester City were willing to breach Premier League rules to sign Christensen ahead of the 22-year-old’s move to Chelsea.
A document from January 6, 2012, attributed to City and titled ‘Financial Summary of Youth Acquisitions’, values Christensen at £430,000 with a note: ‘£230,000 to family’. It adds: ‘We have information that Chelsea has offered to accommodate these numbers.’
City have previously declined to comment on ‘out of context materials purported to have been hacked or stolen from City Football Group and Manchester City personnel and associated people’.
The allegations against Chelsea come a day after claims based on Football Leaks that they are one of five Premier League clubs under investigation by FIFA over possible violations of rules concerning the signing of foreign players under the age of 18. They would face a transfer ban if found guilty.