Arsenal have been fined £60,000 and also warned over their future conduct after breaching the FA’s football agent regulations. The FA charge relates to the transfer of Calum Chambers from Southampton to Arsenal on July 26th 2014. Chambers joined Arsenal on a long-term contract for an undisclosed fee – thought to be around £16m. The England international has since made 39 appearances for Arsene Wenger’s side. Arsenal admitted part of the breach but were cleared of any wrongdoing on a separate part, which was found not proven following an Independent Regulatory Commission. Chambers’ agent, Alan Middleton, has also been fined £30,000 and warned as to his future conduct in relation to the same matter. The FA said in a statement that authorised agent Middleton and unlicensed agent Philip Ercolano were both involved in the deal. “Alan Middleton has also been warned as to his future conduct and sanctioned for breaching the FA’s football agent regulations in relation to the same matter,” the FA said.
In a statement Arsenal said: “We acted in good faith throughout in this transfer and had no reason to believe that the player’s representative was not authorised to be involved in the transfer negotiations. “The FA fully recognised that there was no intention to mislead on Arsenal’s part. We have improved our procedures to prevent this happening again.” Middleton said in a statement: “I am pleased that the FA commission found that the only case to answer was a minor procedural error which was a genuine oversight by ourselves and Arsenal Football Club. “As a company we take our responsibilities extremely seriously and it was pleasing to see that the commission acknowledged that at all times we acted in the best interests of the player and cooperated fully with the commission’s investigation. “Lessons have been learned and we have implemented measures going forward that would ensure such an error could not happen again.”
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