Chelsea won't shelve their pursuit of Benfica star Angel di Maria, despite their one-year transfer ban.
Under-pressure sports chief Frank Arnesen has been to see Argentinian starlet Di Maria and also sent scouts to spy on him in Benfica's Europa League game with Belarusian club Bate Borisov this week.
Chelsea have been hit with a ban from the next two transfer windows after being found guilty of inducing Gael Kakuta to break his contract with Lens.
Chelsea have promised to fight the ban and are awaiting the detailed documents of the case before appealing to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
But it means that they are still hoping to win their case or at least have the punishment reduced as they are still scouting players, says the Sunday Mirror.
Benfica this week negotiated a new deal with Di Maria - nicknamed Little Angel - and increased his buy-out clause to £40m.
