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Chelsea’s coffers are set to be boosted by £15 million following a landmark court ruling against former striker Adrian Mutu on Tuesday.
The case dates back to 2003 when the Romanian international became one of the first signings of the Roman Abramovich era when he joined Chelsea from Italian side Parma in August of that year. After a promising start, Mutu fell out with successive managers Claudio Ranieri and Jose Mourinho, and found himself relegated to the bench. The following September he tested positive for cocaine and was sacked by the club.
Chelsea then sued Muto to recover the bulk of the £15.8 million that they paid Parma for him, with FIFA setting the fine at a figure of £15.2 million in 2008. That decision was subsequently upheld by the Swiss courts and CAS (The Court of Arbitration of Sport).
Mutu subsequently appealed the decision to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), who, as The BBC reports, finally handed down their judgement this week, ruling firmly in Chelsea’s favour.
Andy is an exiled English football fan living in Cyprus. He loves all sports but football is his abiding passion, and he still has dreams every now and then about scoring the winning goal in a Wembley Cup Final, even though his playing days are long gone. He follows most major leagues, across Europe at least, and has a favoured team in each. When he’s not watching, listening, reading or downloading podcasts about football, he spend his time worrying about his beloved Arsenal.