£62M and a transfer ban - Chelsea’s search for young stars
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£62M and a transfer ban - staggering cost of Chelsea’s search for young stars
GAEL KAKUTA has been ordered home from Japan to explain his part in the scandal which has rocked Stamford Bridge.
CHELSEA'S failing football academy has cost owner Roman Abramovich a staggering £62million. In four years since Frank Arnesen swapped Spurs for Stamford Bridge, he has failed to produce a single first-team regular.
That is the damning statistic after yet another traumatic week at Chelsea. This is Arnesen's amazing story, stripped bare as they continue to search for a superstar.
In a week when the club have been banned by FIFA from signing players for the next two transfer windows, Arnesen's position is now under intense scrutiny.
This is the first examination of the former Denmark international's transfer dealings, stripping this multi-million pound Cobham talent factory bare.
It is the story of Franco Di Santo, signed from Chilean team Audax for a mind-boggling £3m and then loaned to Blackburn.
Or of Slobodan Rajkovic, bought from OFK Belgrade two years ago for £3.8m and now on loan with Steve McClaren's FC Twente.
Some, such as Michael Woods and Tom Taiwo, were signed in a blaze of publicity, arriving from Leeds for combined fees of £4m.
Arnesen - recently promoted to the role of sporting director - has squandered fortunes on transfer fees and payments to agents in search of a star.
Amazingly, our figures do not include the vast sums paid to agents to bring these young kids to the club.
Abramovich bought up huge plots of land in Cobham to build one of the world's best football academies when he bought the club in 2003.
He also bought Chelsea Lodge, keeping the players under one roof as they moulded them for a future alongside John Terry, Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba. The training ground, which is housed next to the first-team facilities, was supposed to be a production line of talent equipped to play in the Champions League.
Instead it is a story of failed footballers, many of whom have left Chelsea after failing to make the grade.
Arnesen was brought in from Spurs to oversee the ambitious operation, identifying top talent across the world and then turning them into first-team players. Abramovich forked out £5m in compensation to bring Arnesen across London, signing the cheque in the summer of 2005 for the best man in the business.
Success
He has paid him handsomely - about £2m a year - as Chelsea attempt to replicate the success story at Manchester United, Manchester City and Arsenal.
Chelsea's owner wanted a homegrown player, another John Terry, to fire the dreams of their 40,000-plus supporters. Now the whole project is under the microscope, with questions asked of Arnesen's role in the acquisition of players scooped up from all over the world. Incredibly, Chelsea have not produced a first-team regular since John Terry emerged from the ranks - 11 years ago. Arnesen has spent jaw-dropping sums signing players from south London to Serbia, setting a deadline of 2010 for one of them to push for a first-team spot.
Chief executive Peter Kenyon admitted: "The academy has not produced the results yet, but we didn't expect instant success. "It is a long-term project and the rewards will come, we are sure of that."
Back in 2005, they were convinced the former Ajax and Valencia midfielder had the eye for talented teenagers. In 2007 construction finished on the £10m academy in Cobham, which is the envy of world football, with another £3m a year poured in for running costs. With a cash-rich owner they aimed to clean up, beating off competition from Arsenal and Manchester United to sign the best kids from every corner of the globe.
They reached the FA Youth Cup final in 2008, losing to Manchester City 4-2 over two legs. They appeared to be full of promise, but none of the players has made the push for the first team.
Imports
Some are kids who won Chelsea's reality TV, Fame Academy-style programme, Football Icon, to foreign imports with transfer fees ranging from £3m-£5m.
Arnesen was supposed to fast-track the talented teenagers towards the first team, tweaking their game so that they could make the transition.
That was in 2005 and four years later they are still waiting for a first-team appearance. Taiwo, 19, went on loan to Port Vale last season and was recently farmed out to League One Carlisle until December.
Aliu Djalo, usually referred to by his nickname 'Kaby', was signed from Portuguese club Boavista in a deal that could be worth £5m.
Others, such as Vincenzo Camilleri, disappeared without trace after signing from Reggina in a controversial move from the Italians.
Arnesen also relied on his team of talent spotters to sign Harry Worley, now at Leicester, and Danny Philliskirk from Oldham.
Philliskirk arrived at Chelsea as a striker, but has been playing for the reserves in midfield and even defence as the coaches attempt to find a winning formula.
Some believe Chelsea would be better off abandoning the academy and spending £50m on the finished article.
Instead of Franck Ribery though, it's a fiasco.
Don't unpack, Kak
GAEL KAKUTA has been ordered home from Japan to explain his part in the scandal which has rocked Stamford Bridge.
The youngster flew out to the Far East on Wednesday to play in an Under-19 tournament for France.
But as soon as he landed in Japan on Thursday, Chelsea demanded he make the gruelling 16-hour flight back to London.
Club chiefs, desperate to mount a defence and overturn the transfer ban imposed by FIFA, wanted a full explanation of all the events surrounding Kakuta's controversial move from Lens.
While his future at the Bridge is not in doubt, Chelsea are anxious to get their facts straight before launching a counter-attack.
And Kakuta's evidence is vital.
The 18-year-old has always insisted he was not tapped up by then academy chief Frank Arnesen - even though FIFA's damning verdict came down on the side of Lens. The French club had claimed Chelsea 'induced' Kakuta to break his contract.
FIFA suspended Kakuta for four months and ordered him and Chelsea jointly to pay compensation of £680,000.
The Blues also have to fork out another £115,000 in training compensation to Lens.
Billionaire owner Roman Abramovich has made it clear to Chelsea officials he wants a thorough investigation before deciding on the club's next course of action.
The Russian knows he cannot afford a false move with FIFA looking to play hard-ball over the trafficking of foreign youngsters.
Despite being under the fiercest scrutiny, controversial Dane Arnesen has been assured his new position as Chelsea's sporting director is secure.
Frank's for nothing
THE Dane at the centre of the Chelsea poaching storm has courted controversy since arriving in 2005, when Tottenham claimed he was approached illegally. The Blues ended up paying £5million compensation.
2006: Chelsea accused of tapping-up Leeds' Michael Woods and Tom Taiwo. Pay £5m out of court.
2006: Arnesen (right) secretly filmed by the BBC offering £150,000 to Nathan Porritt, 15. The player was attached to Middlesbrough.
2007: Relationship with manager Jose Mourinho breaks down and is reportedly close to leaving Stamford Bridge. Instead, Mourinho leaves in September.
2008: Reggina report Chelsea to Italian FA, claiming contact with Vincenzo Camilleri before he was 16.
2009: Arnesen promoted to role of sporting director at Stamford Bridge.
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Chelsea Facing Second Transfer Probe – Report
The Blues could be in more hot water with FIFA, according to a new report...
Chelsea could be set to face a second probe into their recruitment of young players, according to a report in The Guardian.
The British broadsheet claims that French club ATTP Marseille are considering contacting FIFA about the Blues' recruitment of Jeremy Boga, an 11-year-old who moved to Stamford Bridge in October.
The report quotes Robert Caturegli, the chairman of the Marseille club, as explaining that he believes Chelsea helped to force the transfer through with their generous treatment of his family.
"The player is so gifted the three biggest clubs in France wanted him," Caturégli told The Guardian.
"But Chelsea found a solution of taking the whole family: the mum, the two brothers and to keep them in a house in Wimbledon. The mum has a car to take the kids to school and to training or whatever. He was in our Under-12s team and we're just a youth development club. He didn't have a contract so we felt we couldn't go to FIFA."
Caturegli is clearly angered by the events and went on to reveal that his club could do little against the bigger clubs.
"But if the family were getting back together they could have done so at Marseille and the boy has been taken to England at a very young age," he added.
"It's sure that Chelsea didn't reunite the family for sentimental reasons. We're prisoners of these big clubs who purloin our players. Chelsea did not give us even one single football."
The news follows on from Chelsea’s recent transfer ban handed down from FIFA following their role in the transfer of Gael Kakuta, which means the Stamford Bridge club are currently unable to sign any players until 2011. -
maybe robben is right. mass exodus at chelsea is expected.
cant trust russian la.
now u know why i had to fight so hard for stalingard. to finsh them off.
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Originally posted by reyes:
maybe robben is right. mass exodus at chelsea is expected.
cant trust russian la.
now u know why i had to fight so hard for stalingard. to finsh them off.
why mass exodus? their current team is leading the EPL.
And if they can't buy, they have to treat their current players better, right?
can they loan??
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Did Robben said anything?