Chelsea 'expecting' specific punishment after being hit with 74 Football Association charges

Chelsea are reportedly expecting to receive a specific sanction after being handed a mammoth charge by the Football Association.

On Thursday morning, the governing body announced that they were handing the Premier League giants a total of 74 charges with regards to payment to agents, intermediaries and third-party investments in players.

Within minutes of the FA's statement, Chelsea released one of their own, emphasising that they had been transparent over issues discovered during the takeover process in 2022.

Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital highlighted the rule breaches that they had believed to have taken place under predecessor Roman Abramovich.

As well as the alleged breaches taking place between 2009 and 2022, none of the rule breaks occurred under the current ownership.

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What FA sanction are Chelsea anticipating?

As it stands, there are theoretically a wide number of punishments that could be handed to the world champions.

They included a fine, a transfer embargo that could potentially stretch multiple windows or a points deduction. There has been no indication that demotion from the Premier League is a possibility.

According to The Telegraph, there is an anticipation that a hefty fine could be received rather than anything that would impact Enzo Maresca's squad.

Sports broadcaster Ben Jacobs, who was commenting on X, adds that Chelsea are of the opinion that they did not gain any sporting advantage.

The West Londoners are also said to have hired a notable accountancy firm to analyse the breaches of the regulations that have been committed.

Meanwhile, the Premier League are said to be conducting their own investigation at a time when Chelsea have until September 19 to provide their own official response.

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Which transfers featured rule breaches?

Transfers involving Eden Hazard, Willian and Samuel Eto'o are among those that are said to have broken regulations.

As per the initial report, the majority of issues stem from business that took back during and between the seasons 2010-11 and 2015-16.

Hazard signed for Chelsea from Lille in 2012, while Willian and Eto's arrived from Russian side Anzhi Makhachkala within a day of each other in August 2013.