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Indian Super League (ISL) club FC Pune City have today been hit was a ban on registering players in the next two transfer windows, after the AIFF Player Status committee ruled the club guilty of an illegal approach to Chennai City FC's Spanish attacker Nestor Gordillo.
Chennai City had alleged that Pune City had illegally approached Gordillo and had got him to sign for the ISL side, even though the player was still under contract with the I-League champions.
The Stallions will be allowed to register new players in the current transfer window, but the ban will come into force, starting with the winter transfer window that starts on January 1, 2020. The club have also been directed to pay a fine of Rs. 5,00,000 to the AIFF within the next fifteen days.
The Spaniard has been asked to pay a compensation of three months salary to the club and pay a fine of Rs 50,000 to the AIFF, in addition to being banned for the next four months from all AIFF competitions.
Chennai City FC owner Rohit Ramesh told Sportskeeda that the AIFF's verdict was a vindication of his stand. "At least it has come to light that Pune did indulge in malpractices, despite so many earlier media reports claiming that they didn't," Ramesh said.
Ramesh said he hoped that this would set a precedent for both players and clubs in the way they deal with transfers in the future. "If you want a player, you deal with the club," Ramesh said while also saying that he believed Gordillo has gotten away lightly.
"Yes, the player has been directed to pay three months' salary to us, but I still believe that he has gotten away pretty much scotfree. We have to make an example out of this, and that means he won't play for the club again," Ramesh said.
The Chennai City owner also stressed that the club would now go out and find a suitable replacement for Gordillo.
FC Pune City owner Gaurav Modwel, on the other hand, remained bullish that no illegal approaches were made from their side towards the player.
"We have not poached the player, we are speaking to our lawyers now, and we will decide on the next course of action very soon," Modwel said.
