Chelsea happy to support U18 transfer ban

Chelsea have declared they would support a ban of international transfers for U18 players.

The London club have been banned by FIFA from making any new signings for two transfer windows after being found guilty of inducing Gael Kakuta to breach his contract with Lens in 2007, when the winger was 16.

Chelsea insist they have done no wrong and are appealing to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne.

FIFA and UEFA both want to outlaw international transfers of players aged under 18, and the bodies' presidents Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini have respectively referred to the practice as being akin to "child slavery" and "child trafficking".

The club's director of communications and public affairs Simon Greenberg told BBC Radio Five Live: "Chelsea are fully supportive of that (the ban).

"We have to be careful that the rules and regulations are very clear because there's clearly a lot of people who believe there are grey areas at the moment.

"We have to make sure the rules and regulations are clear and legal in terms of European law. I think there's a lot of work to be done on that.

"I think we always supported the proposal. (Chief executive) Peter (Kenyon) is a member of the European Club Association.

"Chelsea, as an individual club and a responsible member of UEFA through their many competitions, and as a supporter of FIFA, we've always supported the ban of under-18 transfers - especially in the respect where this has been dubbed as 'child trafficking' or 'child slavery'."

 
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