Ancelotti shocked by Fifa transfer ban over Kakuta

New Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti took a huge gamble when he decided not to make any major signings during the summer transfer window beyond those of Yuri Zhirkov and Daniel Sturridge. That gamble could have spectacularly backfired, after the world football body Fifa yesterday banned the London club from signing any new players until 2011.

The Stamford Bridge side will "mount the strongest appeal possible" against the "extraordinarily arbitrary" sanction, which was imposed after they were found guilty of illegally inducing Gael Kakuta to sign from Lens, the French Ligue 1 club, in 2007. Kakuta, now 18, has himself been banned from playing for four months and fined €780,000 - for which Chelsea are jointly liable.

The French youngster was widely recognised as one of the most outstanding talents in his home country when Chelsea's scouting network, under the control of the controversial Dane Frank Arnesen, identified him as a player the club should pursue.

Kakuta duly joined the Londoners in the summer of 2007 during the last days of Jose Mourinho's managership, and shone in the Chelsea Academy team that season. He suffered from a series of injuries last season but has been back in the reserves this term and was named in the Blues' squad for the Champions League this week, a sign that he was on the fringes of the first team.

Yesterday's decison by Fifa's Dispute Resolution Chamber was warmly welcomed by Lens. Club chairman Gervais Martel told the Guardian: "It's a logical decision. They stole the boy off us when he was 16. He was at our club since the age of eight. It's a good decision but Lens were not compensated enough. [Kakuta] is a gem. He is good enough to play for Chelsea [after all]."

Chelsea's reaction was understandably furious. The ban, which will cover next year's January and summer transfer windows, means the club won't have made a major signing since the capture of Zhirkov in July for £18m. "The sanctions are without precedent at this level and totally disproportionate to the alleged offence and the financial penalty imposed," said a club spokesman.

While this sanction alone may indeed be "disproportionate", many in the game will have pointed to Arnesen's previous dealings in the transfer market and seen something like this coming. In 2006 Chelsea's 'head talent scout' was filmed by BBC's Panorama 'tapping up' the 15-year-old Middlesbrough player Nathan Porritt with an offer of £150,000 to go to Stamford Bridge. ·