Leicester decide against CAS appeal in Silva saga

LONDON: The long-running saga over Portugal midfielder Adrien Silva’s move to Leicester City took another twist on Tuesday with the English club deciding not to go to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

Leicester have been battling to get the 28-year-old Euro 2016 winner’s £22 million ($29 million) deadline-day move from Sporting Lisbon registered after it was submitted just 14 seconds late, but had their appeal rejected by FIFA earlier this month.

On Tuesday they blamed world football’s governing body for their decision not to pursue the case with CAS which effectively means Silva will have to wait until January to play for them.

“It was our intention to submit an application to the Court of Arbitration for Sport for expedited proceedings so that the matter could be resolved as quickly as possible,” a Leicester spokesman said.

“However, it has been made clear to us that FIFA will not support an expedited process, forcing the Club to reluctantly accept the single-judge ruling of FIFA’s Players’ Status Committee without reasonable opportunity for independent arbitration that is timely enough to be effective.”

The club added they would support France-born Silva -who remains with them and is training with the squad -- if he decided to go alone to CAS.

“We intend to register Adrien at the earliest opportunity. In the meantime, he will remain under our care, training with the squad under the supervision of our coaching, medical and sport science staff,” the spokesman added. – AFP