First is was Barcelona who were punished for illegal transfer dealings and not it looks like their bitter rivals, Real Madrid could be facing the same punishment.
A report by Spanish radio station Cadena Ser that Carlo Ancelotti’s team were to be handed a year-long transfer ban similar to that Barcelona find themselves under this season.
Real quickly released a statement on their website Wednesday stating that ‘such information is absolutely false’ and that they will face no punishment for any wrongdoing.
Such information is absolutely false, as evidenced by the fact that the Spanish Football Federation has denied itself the different media to deny that Real Madrid is involved in any irregularities in the recruitment of minors.
‘Real Madrid reiterate that it has always complied scrupulously with respect to FIFA rules, as explained in detail in its statement dated January 26, 2015.
‘Real Madrid again regrets the repetition in the dissemination of this information, some malicious, whose sole purpose is to involve the club on alleged infringements in any case have been committed.’
Cadena Ser claimed the Spanish Football Federation were tipped off by FIFA that the club had broken the same rules as Barcelona, and that the current European champions would be banned from bringing in new players this summer and in the following winter window.
Barcelona were banned for breaking rules surrounding the signing of underage players in April 2013 and had an appeal knocked back by the Court for Arbitration in Sport (CAS) last December.
The club were asked to provide documentation for 37 players and nine were found to have not satisfied Article 19 of FIFA transfer law that allows the signing of under-18s from outside the EU only when players are accompanied by both parents.
Barcelona were able to postpone their ban last summer enabling them to sign Luis Suarez, Jeremy Mathieu and Claudio Bravo. If Real Madrid were to be banned, they could try a similar appeal in the hope that it would allow them to complete the signing of Manchester United goalkeeper David De Gea this summer.
There are rumors coming out of Spain that Real’s city rivals Atletico could also be facing a similar one-year ban.
A one-year ban for Real Madrid would cause havoc on this summer’s transfer market. Madrid were expected to target De Gea, Marco Reus and possibly Paul Pogba, while Gareth Bale was expected to return to the Premier League. Without the option of moving to one of La Liga’s three big clubs, stars will be left with the Premier League as the only real option, which could create a spending frenzy the likes of which we have never seen before.
