Ghanaian international midfielder Thomas Partey’s Atletico Madrid lose appeal against transfer ban at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
The Madrid side will not be able to register any new players until January 2018 after the Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld their appeal against a FIFA transfer ban.
The two Spanish giants then took their cases to the CAS but, while Real saw their ban halved to one transfer window in December, Atletico announced on Thursday that the only reduction they had been given was regarding their financial penalty – down from £720,000 to £440,000.
Atletico have criticized the CAS ruling in a five-point statement on their website, describing it as “unfair” and saying they had been “penalized despite strictly complying with the Spanish legislation”.
“We consider that the decision to support the prohibition of registering players in a second period, corresponding to the summer of 2017, poses an unfair disadvantage and discriminatory treatment to our entity, since recently and in a similar case, the penalty was partially lifted, allowing to register players starting on July 1st. This ruling is unfair and causes an irreparable damage to our club,”club statement said:
“The club reiterate that we have been penalized despite strictly complying with the Spanish legislation, as we have always processed all our licenses with Madrid’s Football Federation, as the Sports Law indicates.”
“We have full confidence in our current squad, with which we have won direct passage to the Champions League for the fifth year in a row and have reached the semi-finals of the Champions League and the King’s Cup. The club has the commitment of the players and coaching staff to continue competing at the same level next season, despite this decision that is evidently detrimental to us. Together, team, club and supporters, we will continue to fight for our goals.”
CAS’ ruling could end speculation surrounding Griezmann’s future with the France international likely to remain at Atletico rather than move to Old Trafford.
