KENYON: NO 'CHILD TRAFFICKING' Posted on: Tue 08 Sep 2009 Chelsea Football Club chief executive Peter Kenyon has insisted the signing of teenager Gael Kakuta was not 'child trafficking'. Kenyon was responding to a question that Chelsea FC supported aproposal from UEFA to ban transfers of under 18's through its positionon the European Clubs' Association of which Kenyon is a board member.The ban has been characterized as outlawing 'child trafficking'. Speaking at the ECA General Assembly in Switzerland today Kenyoninsisted it was important to draw a distinction between the Kakuta caseand the general problem. He said; 'It was something that happened two years ago that was inno way child trafficking. I think you've got to distinguish between theissues. 'This has been talked about for the last 12 months and we havesigned up fully to the ECA and UEFA's position, along with FIFA's. Weneed to separate our overall position with the specific case. The factwe are appealing tells you our position. We deny any wrongdoing.' The Chelsea chief executive added that Kakuta, now 18, had also beenstunned by FIFA's decision that Chelsea had acted outside the rules inthe transfer. He also said that the other European clubs were 'shocked'at the decision. He added: 'He wants to play his profession, which is football. Weneed to take account for that and understand this is something thathappened two years ago, and make sure we've got enough support aroundhim to ensure he's fully supported at a difficult time.'
