It was a deal that hardly registered with any of the Stamford Bridge faithful at the time, now every Chelsea fan will remember the name Gael Kakuta.

FIFA's extraordinary decision to throw the book at the Blues over a deal for a little-known French teenager from Lens in 2007 will have ramifications throughout the club.

New manager Carlo Ancelotti arrived in England this summer determined to win Chelsea's first Champions League title. His team have made a fantastic start to the season and stand top of the League with a 100 per cent record after four matches.

But after only signing three players this summer - Yuri Zhirkov for £18million from CSKA Moscow, Daniel Sturridge from Manchester City and Ross Turnbull from Sunderland - the Italian may find that his resources are stretched to the limit this season.

Goalkeeper Turnbull's addition may now prove priceless as first choice No1s Petr Cech and Henrique Hilario have both been injury prone in the past. FIFA confirmed today that Chelsea will not even be able to make any loan signings during their transfer ban and with a potential 62 games to play if they are chasing silverware in the Champions League and on three domestic fronts, Ancelotti may well find himself literally down to the bare bones.

He won't even be able to call upon winger Kakuta, still rated as their best young prospect for the next four months as he has been banned and has a broken ankle anyway. The 18-year-old had an excellent first season at the club that ended with the Frenchman being voted the Academy's Scholar of the Year after he emerged as the youth team's top scorer with 12 goals in 24 appearances, including six goals in Chelsea's Youth Cup run.

The 2008/09 season was a frustrating one for the France Under-17 international, who managed just seven appearances in total during an injury-curtailed campaign.

He overcame early-season hamstring problems to turn in a string of lively performances but his campaign was brought to a halt when he suffered a double ankle fracture in a friendly against the Glenn Hoddle Academy.

Kakuta's rehabilitation from the serious injury remains ongoing, although what kind of career awaits him at Chelsea on his return is now open to speculation.

There will be many left wondering whether his recruitment was worth all the effort.

He was signed under the reign of Jose Mourinho when the primary responsibility for recruiting young talent fell to director of football Frank Arnesen. The Dutchman cost Chelsea £6m when they recruited him from Tottenham in 2005 with the brief of overhauling their youth academy.

Yet, four years later, of the current first team only John Terry played for Chelsea as a junior and he was at the club before Arnesen moved to Stamford Bridge.

Arsensen's role in the signing of Kakuta will come under the spotlight especially as the Chelsea were found guilty by FIFA of offering illegal inducements to sign the youngster.

Arnesen was caught in a storm in September 2006 when the BBC Panorama programme, investigating the English transfer market, filmed him offering Middlesbrough's 15-year-old player Nathan Porritt a fee of £150,000 spread over three years to move to Chelsea.

Although Arnesen was told that Porritt was 99.9 per cent sure he wanted to leave Middlesbrough, the offer, was illegal under Football Association rules. To date Arnesen has never been charged or questioned by anyone at the FA about the programme.

Mourinho and Chelsea were punished, though, in 2006 over the tapping-up of Ashley Cole after being found guilty by the Premier League of an illegal approach.

Chelsea were fined £300,000 and given a suspended three-point deduction, Cole and Mourinho were both handed a £75,000 fine. The three-point deduction will not come into force now as the penalty was only held over for one season.

Chelsea's recruitment of Leeds players Michael Woods and Tom Taiwo did though cost the Blues £5m in compensation after the Yorkshire club's chairman Ken Bates accused Chelsea of 'tapping-up' in the same year. Mourinho and Arnesen were again at the centre of the deals.

The latest developments over Kakuta will not sit well with owner Roman Abramovich who has been forced to curtail his spending on new players since the downturn in the economy.

FIFA's punishment is a rare one although another European club - Switzerland's FC Sion - were told in April it could not sign players until the 2010 off season.

This was punishment for their actions in luring Egypt goalkeeper Essam El Hadary in 2008 before his deal with Al-Ahly had expired. Sion have appealed to CAS, which has frozen the sanctions while it considers the case, allowing the club to trade before the current season began.

Roma were also given a ban for two transfer windows following defender Philippe Mexes' move from Auxerre in 2004 but their appeal to the CAS led to the ban being cut to one window.

Chelsea will now in all probability do the same and launch an appeal. The one certainty is that Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson will be wearing a broad smile this afternoon.

Blues deals under the spotlight

Ashley Cole
Chelsea were fined £300,000 and handed a suspended three-point deduction for tapping-up' the former Arsenal man during a clandestine hotel meeting in 2005. Cole and former Blues boss Jose Mourinho were also fined £75,000 each. The player's agent, Jonathan Barnett, was suspended for 18 months and fined £100,000.

John Obi Mikel
Both Chelsea and Manchester United believed they had agreed a deal to sign the Nigerian from Norwegian club Lyn Oslo in 2005. He joined United first but, after expressing a desire to move to London, Mikel eventually signed in the summer of 2006. In a controversial deal, Chelsea were ordered to pay £4million to Lyn and a further £12m to United for the player's signature.

Tom Taiwo and Michael Woods
Chelsea denied making an illegal approach for the Leeds duo in 2006, but later agreed a £5m compensation package for the England Under-16 pair after the Yorkshire club threatened to take Chelsea to the High Court.

Nathan Porritt
BBC's Panorama programme alleged that Chelsea made an illegal approach to entice the Middlesrough teenager to Stamford Bridge in 2006. According to the BBC, Chelsea offered £150,000 to Porritt through his agent Peter Harrison. Chelsea's director of football, Frank Arnesen, was also implicated in the programme.