Chelsea deal for Andreas Christensen under scrutiny amid allegations club paid his father £600,000

Chelsea's signing of Andreas Christensen is the latest to come under scrutiny, amid claims they could be banned by Fifa from buying players for two years.

The club’s fans are already alarmed by reports from French website Mediapart that Fifa have recommended Chelsea are not allowed to make any signings for four transfer windows as part of their three-year investigation into the acquisition of Bertrand Traore and 13 other minors.

But Danish paper Politiken, which, like Mediapart, acquired information from Football Leaks, alleges Chelsea may have also circumvented rules when acquiring Christensen from Brondby in 2012.

There are strict guidelines in place that parents of players are not offered cash incentives by clubs who want to sign a player. An internal document is said to show the centre-back’s father was paid a ‘parental salary’ of five million kroner, about £600,000.

Football Leaks suggests Chelsea employed Christensen’s father, Sten, who also acts as his agent, to be a talent scout — even though he had not been one before.

Sten Christensen declined to comment.

Andreas Christensen was 15 when he agreed to join Chelsea in February 2012, but signed the contract after he turned 16, five months later. As he is an EU citizen, there was nothing untoward in joining the Blues at that age.

A Chelsea spokesman told Standard Sport: “We do not comment on speculation about confidential contracts or player-related cases.”

A Premier League spokesman added: “Should we receive any substantive material that indicates that our rules may have been violated, we will, of course, investigate it — and we have a history of doing that.”

It is another unwelcome distraction, amid suggestions FIFA’s integrity and compliance unit want to punish Chelsea for flouting rules over the signing of players under 18 years of age.

Five Premier League clubs, including Chelsea, are being looked into. However, sources close to the investigation say no suggestion of a transfer ban has been made to Chelsea.

Traore signed his first pro contract with Chelsea when he was 18, in January 2013. Chelsea have admitted they paid his mother £155,000, plus £13,000 to the club she was chairman of, AJE Bobo-Dioulasso, in April 2011 to allow them first refusal over his signature.

A Chelsea statement said: “The club has fully co-operated with FIFA and has provided comprehensive evidence demonstrating its compliance with the applicable Fifa regulations.”