Former Chelsea defender Ricardo Carvalho has been sentenced to seven months in prison after admitting to tax offences in Spain.
The 39-year-old, who now plays in China for Shanghai SIPG, was accused of concealing income from image rights during his time at Real Madrid in 2011 and 2012.
Carvalho has been ordered to pay a fine of €142,822 (£128,000) after the public prosecutor’s office requested the defender’s penalty to be 12 months in prison as well as a €300,000 (£269,000) fine.
But the Spanish court considered that request to be ‘disproportionate’, acknowledging that Carvalho had admitted to the offences and returned the amount he is alleged to have hidden, which is around €545,981 (£488,500).
Under Spanish law, prison sentences for non-violent crimes of less than two years are suspended, which means that Carvalho is unlikely to spend time in jail.
After winning the Champions League with Porto, the defender followed Jose Mourinho to Chelsea where he won three Premier League titles.
Carvalho spent six years at Stamford Bridge before joining up with Mourinho at Real Madrid, and the pair won the La Liga title together in 2012.
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