Pochettino: Give Tottenham the 2016-17 Title

Mauricio Pochettino has called for Tottenham to be handed the 2016-17 Premier League title, arguing that Chelsea's breaches of Football Association rules over agent payments should have cost them the crown outright Rather than a fine.

Chelsea finished that season on 93 points under Antonio Conte, seven clear of Pochettino's Spurs in second. New owners Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital, who bought the club from Roman Abramovich in 2022, later self-reported 74 breaches to the FA relating to £47m in secret payments made to unregistered agents and third parties between 2011 and 2018. Eden Hazard, Willian, David Luiz and Nemanja Matic — four of the players whose transfers were involved — were all at Chelsea during the title-winning campaign.

"If they admitted they broke the rules, the Premier League title was for the second-best team," Pochettino said.

Chelsea's haul across the period under scrutiny also included the 2014-15 Premier League title, two FA Cups, the EFL Cup and the Europa League. Manchester City's 115 charges over alleged financial rule breaches remain unresolved, with no verdict yet reached.

Pochettino's remarks are unlikely to trigger any retrospective change to the 2016-17 table, but they put a senior name behind an argument that has so far come mainly from rival supporters — that a fine was too soft a sanction for a club found to have gained an advantage in the transfer market during a title-winning season.