Mauricio Pochettino was right to say Chelsea's 2016-17 Premier League title was built on cheating, according to an analysis by Daily Mail Sport's Riath Al-Samarrai, published after the former Tottenham Hotspur manager criticised the club this week. Chelsea have confessed to making secret payments worth more than £47 million to unregistered agents and third parties.
The Premier League and the Football Association settled on fines totalling around £20 million earlier this year, only slightly more than the compensation Chelsea received from Manchester City for a manager they had already sacked. Al-Samarrai described the punishment as "softer and more misplaced than a bad Panenka."
The FA commission praised Chelsea's honesty across 63 pages of written explanation after the club came forward with the discoveries in its own historical accounts, according to the analysis. But no sporting sanction was imposed on the current ownership, known as BlueCo, for breaches that occurred between 2009 and 2022 under former owner Roman Abramovich.
As a result, not a single point was docked and none of the three Premier League titles Chelsea won in that period were stripped. The analysis names several signings made outside the rules during that era, including Eden Hazard, Samuel Eto'o, Willian, Ramires, David Luiz, Andre Schurrle and Nemanja Matic.
Eden Hazard's contribution
Hazard scored 16 league goals in the 2016-17 title-winning season, a campaign Chelsea finished seven points clear of Tottenham. A report in The Times last year alleged that Hazard's proposed move to Manchester United from Lille broke down because United would not pay a backhander to an agent, sending him to Chelsea for £32 million instead.
The Willian pursuit
Tottenham came close to signing Willian in August 2013. He spent eight hours at the club's training ground and completed a medical before leaving for Chelsea instead, after Abramovich telephoned Anzhi Makhachkala owner Suleyman Kerimov to redirect the deal.
That transfer was cited in the FA's documentation this summer, quoting an unnamed Chelsea figure who said losing Willian was "not good" and that him joining Tottenham would add "insult to injury."
Willian's impact on the title
Pochettino was not at Tottenham when Willian was diverted from the club, but he was manager during the 2016-17 season, when the Brazilian was outstanding for Antonio Conte's Chelsea. The analysis lists several match-turning moments: he scored the opener in a 2-0 win over Hull City in October 2016, then beat Nicolas Otamendi to a loose ball to help beat Manchester City from 1-1.
He also turned a draw into a win at Sunderland with an assist, scored twice in a 4-2 win over Stoke City, and scored the opener in a later rout of Sunderland. By the analysis's calculation, a replacement would have needed to be worth 13 points to Chelsea that season, against a title margin of seven over Tottenham.
FA Cup semi-final
Willian scored the first two goals in a 4-2 FA Cup semi-final win and was named man of the match in Daily Mail Sport's player ratings, with Matic and Hazard scoring the other two goals.
Pochettino's comments
Pochettino said this week: "Maybe with the same rules we could've signed some players that would have made the team better or scored more goals. It's not me complaining, it's the truth."
The analysis also points to the 2015-16 season, when Willian scored an 86th-minute equaliser against Newcastle United in September; Newcastle were relegated by two points that May.
No sporting sanction has been applied over the breaches, and the Premier League has yet to resolve its separate, larger case against Manchester City.
