Juventus have claimed victory in their legal battle with Chelsea
Juventus have claimed victory in their legal battle with Chelsea over the signing of former Romanian international Adrian Mutu.
The 36-year-old was a high-profile signing for the Premier League club in 2004 when Roman Abramovich had ownership of the club. After initial success at the West London club, Mutu was given a lengthy ban from football after testing positive for cocaine. This subsequently led to his departure from Chelsea on a free transfer after his contract was terminated with immediate effect. This allowedMutu to secure a free transfer to Juventus, but because the Italian club already had their quota of non-European based players full, they had to be sent out to Livorno.
Livorno did not utiliseMutu even for a single game and he returned to Juventus. He played at the Italian outfit for a season before being sold at a profit of € 8 million to Fiorentina. Due to this aspect, Chelsea claimed that Juventus should also contribute a huge sum of money as part of the damages of done byMutu. The club was awarded a hefty compensation fee of £ 15 million by FIFA. However, Juventus challenged this decision at the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which has cancelled the verdict by FIFA with immediate effect.
“Juventus Football Club announces today that the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne has notified us of the decision made by the arbitrators in the dispute that pitted Chelsea against Juventus regarding the signing of Adrian Mutu.The arbitrators have completely dismissed the demands made by Chelsea FC, ordering them (the London club) to play the legal costs of the case.This ruling has no effect on the financial balance of Juventus Football Club because the club, fully aware of being in the right, chose not to allow for any risk in funds over the developing litigation,” said a statement.
Tags: Adrian, Cesena, Chelsea, Fiorentina