Chelsea could launch an unexpected January spending spree after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne suspended Fifa’s transfer ban against the club.

Chelsea were banned from signing players for two transfer windows in September after being found guilty of inducing Gaël Kakuta, then a 15-year-old winger with Lens, to break his contract with the French club two years ago.

They were also ordered to pay £113,000 “training compensation” for Kakuta, who was suspended for four months. The player was ordered to pay £682,000 compensation, for which Fifa said Chelsea were “jointly liable”. Chelsea have always insisted that they were confident Fifa’s ban would be overturned, although the final decision is pending CAS's ultimate verdict on the issue.

"CAS has granted the request for a stay filed by Chelsea Football Club Ltd and Mr Gael Kakuta in relation to the decision taken by the Fifa Dispute Resolution Chamber on 27 August 2009," a statement read.

"The Fifa Dispute Resolution Chamber imposed, inter alia, a restriction of four months' ineligibility on Mr Gael Kakuta, and Chelsea Football Club Ltd was banned from registering any new players, either nationally or internationally, for the next two complete, consecutive registration periods. Such sanctions are now stayed until the CAS renders its final decision in this matter."

Carlo Ancelotti, the Chelsea manager, is keen to sign reinforcements with Didier Drogba, Salomon Kalou, Michael Essien and John Obi Mikel likely to miss up to four Premier League matches and several domestic cup-ties while they play in the African Cup of Nations.

The tournament, which runs from January 10 to 31 in Angola, will leave Chelsea particularly threadbare up front. Any injury to Nicolas Anelka during that period could deprive Ancelotti of all of his recognised strikers, but while his priority is to sign another forward, most of Chelsea’s targets are either unavailable or overpriced. David Villa is one of few world-class goalscorers who could play in the Champions League because Valencia did not qualify for this season’s competition.

In the wake of the decision, Ancelotti insisted he would not be rushed into buying new players. "Now, thanks to this decision we have time to look for new players," he said. "But we don't want to take a decision in this moment. At the moment, I'm very happy with the squad, these players, and it's not necessary at the moment to take new players.

"I know we will lose four in January but if we maintain the players' fitness we can do a good period also without the African players. Now our focus is on the game on Sunday. We can buy players in January, but now we have other questions to answer. It's not important now what we can do in January."

Professor Ian Blackshaw, a CAS lawyer, believes there is little chance of reaching a final decision on the case until well into the new year, meaning Chelsea would be free to buy players in January.

"Until the appeal is finally decided by CAS the position before the appeal is reversed," he said. "That means Chelsea are free, if they wish to do so, to deal in the transfer market in January.

"Once all the paperwork is there then it is possible to hold a hearing. In this case, because it's such an important one, I imagine there will be an oral hearing rather than a decision based just on papers. In that case it will be possible for Kakuta to present his version of the facts. I don't think we will get an appeal much before March or even April next year.

"It is possible for parties to ask CAS for an expedited hearing under the rules, which would allow the appeal to be fast-tracked but I know that CAS are extremely busy, not just with football disputes, and they have a very busy schedule.

"The chances of getting an expedited hearing are slim, if not impossible, so I feel a decision will be made in the first quarter of next year at the earliest."

Chelsea made clear their inetent to appeal against the ban as soon as Fifa published their original decision, claiming the punishment was "disproportionate".

"Chelsea will mount the strongest appeal possible following the decision of Fifa's Dispute Resolution Chamber over Gael Kakuta," a statement read at the time. "The sanctions are without precedent to this level and totally disproportionate to the alleged offence and the financial penalty imposed."