Just when you thought the dullest transfer deadline day ever had dampened the spirits, something like this happens.

A contractual dispute between French club Lens, winger Gael Kakuta and English club Chelsea, which has been rolling on since 2007, has reared its ugly head to the extent that the Premier League title favourites are not allowed to bring in any new players for the next two transfer windows.

It turns out that having all the money in the world makes no difference when you break the rules and FIFA's Dispute Resolution Chamber has come down hard on those responsible. Chelsea have been charged with ''inducement'', and fined, while the ban has attempted to send a message to the rest of the footballing world.

But will it make a difference? Top players on top wages already exist in abundance at Stamford Bridge and there is little to suggest that Carlo Ancelotti will be overly bothered by the prospect of not being able to improve his squad over the next few windows. January certainly isn't a time that the big-boys traditionally bring players into their squads.

The club have hardly set the market alight with their signings in this window either. Ross Turnbull, Daniel Sturridge and Yuri Zhirkov arrived, but nothing like the spending that we have seen in the past. The days of Roman Abramovich bringing in £50m worth of talent appear to be gone and the 130,000 euros fine will be a drop in the ocean. Quietly, the Russian may be quite pleased.

The club can take heart from the precedent, too, as it involved a French club. Roma were banned from signing anyone for a year in 2005 for their signing of Philippe Mexès, but the Court of Arbitration for Sport cut their ban to one transfer window. Expect something similar to happen when the might of the Blues are involved this time around.

Still, Chelsea have been walking a fine line over transfers for a while now. The Ashley Cole situation is well-known to everyone in the game and resulted in fines from the FA, while John Obi Mikel's move from Lyn Oslo (via Old Trafford) was controversial as they had to pay £12m to United and £4m to Lyn, after a contract issue was resolved before it was heard by FIFA.

Indeed, something like this was always going to happen as they targeted players without much thought for their clubs. Money talks, but in this case it has got them in trouble and it could spell the end for Peter Kenyon. It will be interesting to see if FIFA follow suit with other clubs, as Chelsea cannot be the only guilty ones.

The irony is that it is a player who would not have been in the spotlight, had it not been for this news. Kakuta was on the verge of breaking into the first-team and would probably have been involved in their Carling Cup games this season, but he was hardly worth all the hassle.

The Blues will recover from their latest setback, but only if FIFA uphold the ban will they make a statement that this kind of behaviour cannot be tolerated. Perhaps, like the recent diving controversy with Eduardo, it is the first of many future cases to be opened.