The 3 stars at centre of Chelsea's 74 FA charges for breaking agent rules

THREE former Chelsea stars are at the centre of the club's massive FA charges.

On Thursday, the Blues were slapped with 74 breaches of agent rules during the Roman Abramovich era.

2 Chelsea were slapped with 74 charges by The FA for breaching agent rules Credit: Alamy

The Premier League also investigated a series of secret payments that had allegedly been made, signed off by Abramovich without the knowledge of other Chelsea bosses.

They were based on payments made in relation to the transfer of three signings.

Those transfers are understood to be Samuel Eto'o, Willian and Eden Hazard .

Hazard arrived at Stamford Bridge from Lille for £32million in 2012, just weeks after the Blues won their first Champions League crown.

The following year, Willian joined for £30m and Eto'o for approximately £2m.

Hazard and Willian were heavily linked with Tottenham before opting to head to West London.

It is understood that the allegations centre of “off-books” payments, approved directly by the former owner, to help facilitate signings.

These payments may well have gone to agents and officials via offshore entities.

The trio of ex-Chelsea players are not considered to be at fault or guilty of any wrongdoing.

The alleged breaches are understood to have been discovered by new Blues owners Todd Boehly , Behdad Egbali and their Clearlake consortium at the time of the takeover process in May 2022.

They were reported to the FA , Uefa and Prem by the new owners at that time.

Uefa and Chelsea agreed a “settlement” of £8.6m in 2023 but the Prem inquiry has been ongoing.

It had been anticipated that the Prem would also issue a fine to the Blues, although some rivals have been privately calling for a stiffer punishment.

But now the FA charges appear likely to put the Prem sanction on the backburner.

The scale of the charges and time-scale being investigated suggest any sanction will be potentially record-breaking, although the current Blues ownership are understood to be offering full co-operation.

The FA's statement said: "The Football Association has today charged Chelsea FC with breaches of regulations J1 and C2 of the FA Football Agent regulations, regulations A2 and A3 of the FA Regulations on Working with Intermediaries and regulations A1 and B3 of the FA Third Party Investment in Players Regulations.

“In total, 74 charges have been brought against Chelsea FC.

EDEN HAZARD

WILLIAN

SAMUEL ETO'O

“Conduct that is the subject of the charges ranges from 2009 to 2022 and finality relates to events which occurred between the 2010-11 the 2015-16 playing seasons

“Chelsea FC has until 19 September 2025 to respond.”

The Blues released their own statement and said: "Chelsea FC is pleased to confirm that its engagement with The FA concerning matters that were self-reported by the club is now reaching a conclusion.

"The Club’s ownership group completed its purchase of the club on 30 May 2022.

"During a thorough due diligence process prior to completion of the purchase, the ownership group became aware of potentially incomplete financial reporting concerning historical transactions and other potential breaches of FA rules.

"Immediately upon the completion of the purchase, the Club self-reported these matters to all relevant regulators, including The FA.

"The Club has demonstrated unprecedented transparency during this process, including by giving comprehensive access to the Club’s files and historical data.

"We will continue working collaboratively with The FA to conclude this matter as swiftly as possible.

"We wish to place on record our gratitude to The FA for their engagement with the Club on this complex case, the focus of which has been on matters that took place over a decade ago."

2 The transfers of Willian, Eden Hazard and Samuel Eto'o are at the centre of the charges Credit: AP:Associated Press