Abramovich’s money has seen Chelsea shoot from being a top-six side to champions for the past two seasons. Now it seems Uefa have had enough. European football’s governing body say that living off Abramovich amounts to unfair competition, and is akin to a state subsidising a nationalised industry, a practice which is illegal in the European Union. Lars-Christer Olsson, Uefa’s chief executive, said: “Chelsea are a very special case. Is it fair competition? Should a club accept these gifts or donations from individuals? I agree it’s unfair. To tackle it you have to agree within the football family and within the European community to say that this is unfair and that is why it’s against the rules.”

Olsson, who has criticised the Premiership for being dominated by greedy clubs and warned that English football risks becoming as corrupt as Italy’s Serie A, agrees with proposals made by the Independent European Sports Review to limit a club’s wages to a proportion of turnover. He said: “We’re going to the EU with these proposals. If we have cases where the wages represent 110% of the club’s turnover, we have to react.”

If Uefa push ahead, they could end the unlimited transfer budget available to Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho as well as hinder new investors in the Premiership, such as Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, whose Dubai International Capital organisation is poised to take control at Liverpool.

Peter Scudamore, the Premiership’s chief executive, has spoken out against the plans but Olsson said: “His (Scudamore’s) views are not that important. If only one of the major leagues is against the proposal, and all the others are positive, it’s not a major blow.”

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