The payment, made in the past three years, was agreed on condition that the victim, his family and lawyers were banned from talking about the alleged abuse.

The confidentiality agreement is so stringent, the parties involved in the case are not even allowed to acknowledge its existence. But after being approached by The Telegraph, which first disclosed that a payment had been made by a Premier League side, Chelsea issued a statement on Tuesday night confirming it had “retained” an outside law firm to carry out a full investigation concerning an individual employed by the club in the 1970s, who is now deceased.

The club, owned by the Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, did not deny the claim that they had paid Heath’s accuser and settled the case. It is not known at what level the payment was authorised. The Telegraph has learnt that the victim took his allegation to Chelsea about three years ago, emboldened by the publicity over the unmasking of Jimmy Savile as a serial paedophile. He had also taken his complaint to the Metropolitan Police.