Manchester City escape transfer ban after signing teenager | OneFootball

Premier League champions Manchester City have avoided a transfer ban following the signing of Benjamín Garré.

Garré comes from Argentina but used his Italian passport to join City days after his 16th birthday – usually players have to wait until 18 to move from South America to Europe.

The club had been accused of talking to the Argentine before his 16th birthday, when he officially signed for them.

Players within the European Union can change clubs at 16 and Fifa cleared the transfer as Garré has an Italian passport. Velez challenged that decision, insisting the passport was not enough to justify the transfer of a player who was attached to a club outside of Europe.

“He (Garré) left here a couple of days before his 16th birthday, he spent a few days in Germany and he entered England one day after his 16th birthday,” Velez club secretary Bernardo Bertelloni said last year.

“Man City argued that there is an exception in the Fifa rules but the Fifa rule does not say that, it says he can move only within the EU, between EU clubs.”

Fifa’s original ruling has now been upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

If Man City were found to have broken the rules, they would most likely have faced a two-window transfer ban, just as Barcelona and Atlético Madrid have in recent years.

Velez Sarsfield could still appeal the decision but it is now extremely unlikely to be overturned.