Chelsea in row over De Lucas

Chelsea today dismissed allegations by Espanyol that they are owed £1.3 million in compensation for midfielder Enrique De Lucas.

Belgian lawyer Jean-Louis Dupont, who masterminded the Jean-Marc Bosman case which transformed football's transfer structure, believes the Spanish club may have a case in demanding compensation for 23-year-old De Lucas, who made his Premiership debut in Chelsea's 3-2 win at Charlton on Saturday.

Under a collective agreement in Spain, a club has the right to put a player under 25 on what is called a training compensation list. "I believe this would be a very interesting test case," said Dupont.

De Lucas had previously signed a pre-contract with another Spanish club, Alaves, who were prepared to pay compensation.

Chelsea, however, did their homework before they signed De Lucas and discovered the compensation agreement exists only between clubs within Spain.