It was around this time last year that FIFA confirmed Chelsea had been hit with a ban and banned for the next two transfer windows.
FIFA found Chelsea guilty of 29 breaches of regulations over transferring minors and the club had to plea their matter with CAS, Court of Arbitration for Sport, and the Blues were then made to serve a one-window ban after the appeal.
Unfortunately, the club didn’t make any signings in the January transfer window and ended up serving the two terms ideally.
Chelsea signed Gilmour as a 16-year-old wonderkid from Rangers back in 2017, and Gilmour, who counted as an “international” signing for FIFA’s purposes since the English and Scottish Football Associations are separate entities, was one of the players involved in the transfer ban case.
Chelsea were hit with 29 breaches of Article 19, with the specific players involved identified only by numbers 1-29, and while his name wasn’t categorically stated, FIFA identified Ajax and Rangers as part of the teams Chelsea had violated in making their signings, obviously referring to deals for Juan Familia-Castillo and Billy Gilmour.
FIFA claimed that in the process of arranging future transfers, Chelsea exerted undue influence on another team by preventing them from operating autonomously and making decisions regarding one of their own players.
Well, that is done and dusted, and the transfer ban has been duly served. But after Gilmour’s superb performance against Liverpool on Tuesday, one can begin to suggest that the whole deal was worth it in the first place.