Real Madrid’s director general, Jose Angel Sanchez, has maintained that the Spanish giants will continue to operate in the January transfer window as per normal. After being hit with a transfer ban by FIFA, the club are confident of a successful appeal, and as such, might not be forced to make big-money signings in this transfer window as was expected.
Speaking at a press conference responding to the ban, Jose Angel Sanchez maintained Real Madrid’s transfer strategy remained unaffected, saying “At this moment we are only thinking about the appeal process. We are not even considering the other possibilities.”
“The club has professionals to take care of the planning and they will do what they have to do. From our point of view, common sense will see that there will be no consequences for the club.”
The transfer ban was widely expected to affect Real’s transfer strategy, with the club’s reported pursuit of Robert Lewandowski, Eden Hazard and David de Gea, among others, expected to be accelerated into the January window for exhorbitant sums, as the club would be barred from registering the players with the RFEF from the summer transfer window, according to the impositions laid down by the ban.
However, Sanchez has reiterated that Real are confident of overturning the ban and will continue to operate in the January transfer window as usual.
Barcelona’s transfer ban was different
Barcelona were similarly sanctioned by FIFA for running afoul of the rules of signing underage players. However, the ban did not come into immediate effect as the appeal process delayed the enforcement of the ban. Similarly, Real Madrid’s appeal, even if unsuccessful, will delay the ban coming into effect, possibly until 2017, thus allowing the club to operate as per normal.
Real Madrid’s director of legal services, Javier Lopez Farre is confident of Real’s successful appeal, despite Barcelona’s appeal against the same sanctions failing, saying “I'm not going to comment on the Barcelona case, but our case is totally different. We can only think that this has been a mistake.”
The club are likely to pursue their legal options all the way to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), if their appeal with FIFA fails, thus delaying the immediacy of the ban and ought to allow Real Madrid’s transfer strategy to remain unaffected.
