CAS upholds transfer ban on Atletico Madrid until 2018

Atletico Madrid’s transfer ban was upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport yesterday, hurting Manchester United’s hopes of signing France forward Antoine Griezmann.

The FIFA ban prevents Atletico from registering new players until January. Atletico had lined up Lyon forward Alexandre Lacazette as a potential replacement for Griezmann.

“This ruling is unfair and causes an irreparable damage to our club,” Atletico said in a statement.

FIFA imposed a one-year ban on Atletico last year for signing dozens of youth players in breach of rules that prevent international child trafficking and luring youngsters from their home country.

Atletico denied wrongdoing, though it agreed not to sign players in the January transfer window while its appeal at CAS went ahead.

Atletico can still sell Griezmann with Man United seemingly ready to pay a release clause in his contract reportedly of more than €100 million.

Still, Atletico would have to cope with only its existing players through the group stage of the Champions League and first half of the league season before it could add to its squad.

Atletico joins Barcelona and Real Madrid in serving transfer bans after signing youngsters from around the world. Those signings were all approved by the Spanish soccer federation, which is led by longtime FIFA vice president Angel Maria Villar.

The fine imposed by FIFA on Atletico was cut to 550,000 Swiss francs ($566,000) from 900,000 Swiss francs ($927,000).

Although the FIFA sanction is typically called a “transfer ban,” it is technically a block on registering new players.

Atletico can sign new players this offseason but they could not play in a competitive match until January.

Atletico target Lacazette has a “verbal agreement” to move to Madrid, Lyon said two weeks ago.

Another reported deal that could be at risk is Tottenham’s interest in Kevin Gameiro, another France forward at Atletico.