Loophole gives Chelsea hope for January window

Chelsea may have been banned from dealing in the next two transfer windows by FIFA for its signing of Gael Kakuta from RC Lens, but there is still some hope for the club that it may be able to buy players in January, according to the secretary general of the Court of Arbitration for Sport, Matthieu Reeb.

The date which the Londoners lodge their appeal could have implications which mean they would be able to trade in January, as Reeb explained to BBC Sport on Friday.

"It depends on the filing date of the appeal," he said. "If we have an appeal within the next week, it seems realistic we will have a hearing in November and a decision in December.

"If it goes a little longer, we'd have to wait until next year but then we'd have a problem with the January transfer period. So there is a possibility of Chelsea requesting a stay of the FIFA decision so it is frozen until the final decision of CAS is rendered.

"This means the enforcement of the FIFA decision would not be immediate. It could be postponed and then if the sanction was finally confirmed by CAS, the suspension would be postponed to the next transfer window."

Chelsea has 21 days after it has received FIFA's full decision in which to appeal, something which the club confirmed on Thursday it would be doing.

The final CAS ruling can only be appealed before the Swiss Supreme Court.