Football agent ‘threatened to send enforcers to Chelsea FC director over £300k cut from Kurt Zouma transfer fee’

A FOOTBALL agent threatened to send enforcers to a Chelsea FC director over a £300,000 cut from Kurt Zouma's transfer, a court heard.

Saif Alrubie, 45, allegedly demanded payment from Marina Granovskaia after the French defender moved to West Ham.

Jurors heard he told the director: "I am done trying to be nice to you."

Southwark Crown Court was told Alrubie insisted he had played a part in the £29million move in August 2021.

But prosecutor Arizuna Asante said he had "nothing at all to do with the deal" and had "no right to or credible expectation to" benefit from the transfer.

He added: "It is then alleged that Mr Alrubie sent Ms Granovskaia an email threatening her on May 22 2022 that if the money was not paid - that is his commission - that she might suffer the fate of someone called Kia Joorabchian who owed him money and did not pay in time.

"He (Mr Joorabchian) was allegedly accosted in a restaurant, an expensive watch taken from him, and thereafter in his office confronted by about a dozen men all at one time effectively intimidating him into handing over bundles of cash in intervals until the money that was owed was paid off."

Marina was director of Chelsea from 2014 to 2022 and also served as chief assistant to Roman Abramovich for over ten years.

Jurors heard she told Alrubie if Zouma sold for more than 30 million euros he would get a commission, but there was "nothing binding" about those exchanges because it was "pre contract".

When the defender was sold to Premier League rivals West Ham, Alrubie's name was not identified on the "deal sheet", which had been signed by Zouma, it was said.

Marina emailed Alrubie on August 25, 2021, explaining she did not believe the football agent was working on behalf of Chelsea.

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