June 1 – Manchester City could become the latest club to be hit with a transfer ban when the Court of Arbitration of Sport (CAS) rules on July 3 over City’s signing of teenager Benjamin Garre from Argentine side Velez Sarsfield.
Velez filed a complaint with FIFA in September alleging that City broke transfer rules and approached Garre in Argentina while he was 15 years old and signed him soon after his 16th birthday for their academy.
The complaint was dismissed as Garre has an Italian passport and FIFA allows the transfer of minors between clubs in European Union countries but Velez officials claim that the rule was invalid as Garre had played for an Argentine club.
Last month, City were banned from signing academy players for an initial 12 months, with 12 months suspended, and hit with a £300,000 fine for breaching rules governing youth transfers – colloquially known as “tapping up.”
“We’re angry because City came after our player, we said no and they took him anyway. That’s not good behaviour between two clubs,” Velez secretary Bernardo Bertelloni told The Times.
“He (Garre) 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.
“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.”
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