Prem clubs could face FIFA transfer ban

Real Madrid director general Jose Angel Sanchez has claimed that FIFA is looking into Premier League clubs over breaches of the same regulations that saw Atletico and Real Madrid given transfer window bans last week.

FIFA’s disciplinary committee said the two Madrid clubs “violated several provisions concerning the international transfer and first registration” of players under 18 years of age and both were issued a transfer ban to last across two windows and fined.

Barcelona served a similar ban over the same issue and have only just been allowed to register players again, but Sanchez gave a number of radio interviews to Spanish media claiming that the Premier League is also a target.

“I have relations with British clubs and I know for a fact that in many of these cases the disciplinary investigations have already started a while ago,” he told the El Larguero programme on Cadena Ser.

“I imagine that FIFA’s resources for these investigations are limited and FIFA cannot do everything at the same time but I have the impression that this is being done at European level and that more cases will follow, one after the other.”

Chelsea were banned in 2009 for signing Gael Kakuta from Lens but it was overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport and Sanchez insists that some Premier League clubs are already under investigation.

“Because of my work I have a lot of relations with the English clubs and I know for a fact that FIFA has already opened investigations into some of them, I don’t know if it has already reached the disciplinary stage,” he told Onda Cero in a separate interview.

“I have the feeling that FIFA wants to do this worldwide. I have the feeling there will be a lot of cases in the next couple of years.”

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