Chelsea have declared they will appeal their transfers ban handed down by FIFA yesterday. FIFA's dispute resolution chamber found the English club guilty of inducing winger Gael Kakuta, 18, to breach his contract with French club Lens and banned the Blues from registering any new players for the next two transfer windows through to January 2011.

But Chelsea are astonished by the ruling, both in terms of the ban and the financial punishment, and in a brief statement the English club said they would be launching "the strongest appeal possible".

A statement from the club read: "Chelsea will mount the strongest appeal possible following the decision of FIFA's Dispute Resolution Chamber over Gael Kakuta.

"The sanctions are without precedent to this level and totally disproportionate to the alleged offence and the financial penalty imposed.

"We cannot comment further until we receive the full written rationale for this extraordinarily arbitrary decision."