FA Investigating Chelsea for 'Illegal Payments' in Andreas Christensen Signing

The Football Association has confirmed it is "reviewing" allegations made against Chelsea that the club made "illegal payments" to Andreas Christensen's father, Sten, when they signed the defender in 2012.

Per Sam Cunnigham of inews.co.uk, Danish newspaper Politiken published Football Leaks documents in November that showed Sten was employed by Chelsea as a scout on July 1, 2012, the day they signed Christensen, and he subsequently received payments totalling over £650,000.

That was all while he remained a goalkeeping coach at Brondby, the club Chelsea signed Christensen from, and he did not do any scouting for Chelsea in the four years he was paid £11,400 per month plus VAT.

Clubs are not allowed to make payments to family members of minors. Per Cunningham, an FA spokesman has confirmed: "The FA is aware of the allegations and we are reviewing them."

A Chelsea spokesman responded: "We do not comment on speculation about confidential contracts or player-related cases."

Christensen, 22, debuted for Chelsea in October 2014 before subsequently spending two successful seasons on loan at Bundesliga club Borussia Monchengladbach between 2015 and 2017.

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Since he returned to Stamford Bridge, he has become a regular first-team player, although he has found his playing time limited under Maurizio Sarri in 2018-19.

If Chelsea are found to have breached FA rules when signing the Denmark international, they could face significant sanctions.

Back in November, Everton were fined £500,000 and banned from signing academy players for two years after they were found guilty of "tapping up" in relation to a former Cardiff City youngster. 

Liverpool were hit with a similar ban in 2017, preventing them from signing Premier League academy players for two years. 

Chelsea have recently been hit with a two-window transfer ban by FIFA after they were found to have breached rules relating to the signing of foreign players under the age of 18, a sanction they are appealing.