Disgraced Fiorentina player Adrian Mutu is a man in trouble. The Romanian international lost his appeal against a Swiss court today in a ruling that will now see him pay his former club Chelsea more than 17 million Euros.
As we all know, Mutu is currently serving a one year ban for failing a doping test twice (yes you read that right) earlier in the year and it seems like Mutu did not learn much from his Chelsea sacking back in 2004. In my opinion, Mutu got off with just a slap on his hand and is lucky to be out for only a year.
Mutu’s case has dragged on for a good 5 years at the CAS (Court of Arbitration for Sport) and the Romanian was hoping for a favourable decision when the final ruling was made. That however, will not be happening.
Now Mutu must pay Chelsea 17,173,990 Euros in addition to a 5 per cent interest incurred since 2008. Legal fees during the entire period will set him back a further 104,000 Euros.
Mutu appealed to the CAS against FIFA’s decision ordering him to pay Chelsea because he claims he was in breach of contract when he was sacked by the London outfit.
CAS upheld FIFA’s decision last year leaving Mutu with the option of seeking solace in the Swiss judicial system. A simple statement from the Swiss court this morning however put Mutu’s fate beyond doubt. The statement read:
“It reached the conclusion that this was not the case and the Romanian footballer’s appeal was unfounded.”
In addition to serving out his one-year ban, Mutu will now have to pull his resources together and scrape whatever ‘little’ he has and pay his former employer. This might be football’s first story of riches to rags.
Photo credit: from Alexander Zetlitz
