Premier League teams demand Chelsea are investigated for CHEATING

Stuart Telford

• 20 Jun 2023 10:41 BST
• 3 min read

Chelsea are poised to offload a host of players to Saudi Arabian clubs in big-money deals, and now some of their European rivals are reportedly calling foul play.

N'Golo Kante has reportedly agreed terms on a contract with €100 million with Al-Ittihad, who recently signed Ballon d'Or winner Karim Benzema from Real Madrid, and he could be followed to the Saudi Pro League by Kalidou Koulibaly, Edouard Mendy and Hakim Ziyech.

While Kante will leave on a free transfer on expiry of his Chelsea contract at the end of June, Koulibaly, Mendy and Ziyech could fetch significant fees at a time when Chelsea are scrambling to balance the books with the spectre of UEFA's Financial Fair Play regulations hanging over them.

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But there is a potential conflict of interest with PIF, the Saudi Arabian consortium which owns Newcastle, also holding shares in Todd Boehly's Clearlake Capital Group.

Chelsea accused of 'get out of jail free' card

"European rivals of Chelsea and Wolves are calling for fair market investigations into Saudi Arabia's dramatic haul of big money signings," report the Telegraph.

"One top club says teams are using the Saudi Pro League as a 'get out of FFP jail free card' while the state embarks on its £500m player spree.

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"Telegraph Sport understands the competition, underwritten by Saudi's Public Investment Fund, is in London this week to clinch a host of deals. It is thought Chelsea alone were originally presented with a proposal for five players amounting to more than £100 million."

The fifth player was reportedly Romelu Lukaku, but the striker - bought for €115 million two seasons ago - would rather make his loan back to Inter Milan permanent. A swap deal with Italy midfielder Nicolo Barella has been floated.

Chelsea are attempting yet another rebuild, this time with Mauricio Pochettino as coach, with moves Christopher Nkunku's €58.5m arrival from RB Leipzig confirmed on Tuesday.