Chelsea Sacked Mutu

Chelsea soccer club officially ended its collaboration with the Romanian soccer player Adrian Mutu for inappropriate behavior. In Premier League lingo this means "use and possession of or traffic with banned substances."

Twelve days after the British media made public that Mutu tested positive to an anti-doping test, the first official decision emerged: Chelsea terminated Mutu’s contract for "inappropriate behavior."

Rumors had it that Mutu was to keep his position at Chelsea, if the British football federation decided to suspend him for a short period of time.
It seems now, however, that the club did not wait for the final decision of the English Football Federation to emerge. "We want to make it clear that Chelsea has zero tolerance for drugs. This is valid for both performance enhancement drugs and other so-called recreational drugs." There is no room for these in our club and in sports, the official statement said. When taking this decision Chelsea took into account the "social responsibility" the club holds towards fans, players, employees and other people involved in football was more important than any financial considerations, the statement said.

According to the Evening Standard daily, Mutu was informed about the decision the club took on Thursday night. The fact that the English club officially let Mutu go shows he is about to get the harshest punishment from the federation.
The Sun also wrote about Mutu’s "End of the Road." The British tabloid said that Mutu could get the maximum suspension period of two years, after his club decided to let him go.
BBC quoted a FIFA representative who said the world football federation will not comment the decision taken by the Chelsea club and will wait first for the local federation to state its decision regarding Mutu.

Michelle Verroken, former director with the UK Sport agency, which conducts the anti-doping tests, thinks that Chelsea took the right decision when letting Mutu go, as it cleaned up its act. "Chelsea thus says to the other players and to its fans that this is a situation that it will not tolerate. This was a very tough and expensive decision to make, but unfortunately the provisions of the contract had been breached and that was the only decision to take," said Verroken. Mutu’s name was taken out of the Chelsea’s web-site since yesterday. Coach Jose Murinho did not want to comment on the decision made by the club, but British media says he had a say in it.

Mutu at Chelsea

He was transferred from the Italian club Parma, in the summer of 2003, for 22.5 million dollars;

He signed a five-year contract for a three million euros pay per year;

In his first season at Chelsea he played in 25 Premier League matches scoring ten goals, including one which proved decisive in the Champions League, against Lazio Rome;

This season Mutu played in two matches only, totaling 49 minutes, against Crystal Palace and Aston Villa.