Wenger expects Real Madrid and Atletico transfer bans to be overturned

Federation Internationale de Football Association announced on Thursday it had banned Real and neighbours Atletico Madrid from registering players for the next two windows for breaching rules on signing non-Spanish Under-18 players.

Premier League clubs could face transfer bans similar to the one Real Madrid have been hit with, a Bernabeu boss has claimed.

Atletico were fined 900,000 Swiss francs (£622,000), while Real were told to pay 360,000 (£249,000). Barca’s appeal failed and they were eventually banned from registering players during the January 2015 and summer 2015 windows.

Real and Atletico Madrid’s transfer bans dominated the Spanish press on Friday following news the Spanish giants would be prohibited from making signings during the next two transfer windows.

Wenger said: “Ideally, personally I would prefer to have the players back from injuries, like Welbeck for example, who has been out since April previous year”.

The Real Madrid and France legend has four of his son playing for the academy, and says that he fails to understand the ruling.

It was no surprise both clubs have appealed, with Real director general Jose Angel Sanchez using the case of head coach Zinedine Zidane’s sons to argue the club have been wrongly sanctioned. Midfielder Arda Turan and defender Aleix Vidal both signed last summer, fully aware that they wouldn’t be allowed to appear for the club until 2016.

“They also violated other relevant provisions with regard to the registration and participation of certain players in competitions, ” it said.

“For the time being we have not spoken to the club about reinforcements”, he said.

Atletico Madrid’s head coach Diego Simeone gestures during a Spanish La Liga soccer match betwee …

You all laughed when Atletico and Real were given transfer bans, didn’t you?

However, the transfer ban does not apply to the ongoing transfer window and the two clubs are free to sign and register players in the current window.

They followed investigations initially conducted by FIFA Transfer Matching System GmbH (FIFA TMS) and subsequently by the FIFA Disciplinary Committee as part of disciplinary proceedings.