Fifa have reached a verdict on Chelsea's damages claim against former player Adrian Mutu, although they have yet to inform each party.
Governing body decide on damages claim
Fifa have confirmed they have reached a verdict on Chelsea's damages claim against former player Adrian Mutu, although they have yet to inform each party.
Chelsea paid Parma £15million for Mutu in 2003 but he was sacked in October 2004 after testing positive for cocaine and received a seven-month ban from all football.
Chelsea launched a compensation claim for breach of contract by Mutu and last week it was reported that Fifa had ruled that the Fiorentina striker must pay £9.6million (€12million) in damages to his former club.
"The decision on the dispute at stake has been reached by the Dispute Resolution Chamber and is currently being processed," confirmed Fifa on Friday.
"The decision will be notified to the parties concerned in due course."
Response
Mutu is currently on international duty with Romania at Euro 2008 and local media reported that his Swiss lawyer, Gianpaolo Monteneri, visited Romania's training base in St Gallen to discuss the issue with Mutu.
"We will take a decision on how to act (to defend our client) as soon as a final decision by Fifa is available," said Monteneri.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled in May 2007 that Fifa had the jurisdiction to decide the amount of damages to be paid, although Chelsea claim they did not ask for a specific figure.
"As far as I know, we have not had official confirmation from Fifa yet," said club spokesman Simon Greenberg. "Until we have the official decision we cannot say anything officially.
"We never asked for a sum," he added. "The only thing we ever said publicly was how much in our accounts Mutu was worth. When he left, obviously he had a value in our account.
"That value was £13million but when we made our case to Fifa we did not ask for a specific amount."
