Barcelona probed the transfer market when it learned the extent of the injury of Ousmane Dembélé, low for the next six months. Several names were around the technical secretariat of Barça until this Thursday it made official the incorporation of Martin Braithwaite, Leganés forward, after payment of 18 million euros of his termination clause. A movement protected by the regulations of the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) that has deprived a striker of a team that plays to avoid relegation to the Second Division.
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The signing, whose intention advanced Barça to the club cucumber last Monday, has fallen like a nail in the particular cross of the Leganés, which already lost in the winter market to its other star battering ram, En-Nesyri, after Sevilla It will also pay its clause (20 million). Martín Ortega, general director of the Madrid entity, was blunt this Thursday when describing the situation: "It is a huge damage."
The key to the operation is in Article 124 of the RFEF regulation, unique in European leagues and to which FIFA is contrary, which allows clubs to sign outside the windows in the event that a footballer causes sick leave or injury for more than five months, as with Dembélé. In addition, the rule explicitly states that the operation must be carried out within the national market.
At the same time that the law enables Barça to sign, Leganés prevents it, since the loss of Braithwaite does not meet the exception. “Current regulations are against the integrity of the competition and against the right of all clubs to compete on equal terms. Barcelona has benefited from it and the injured party is Leganés, ”said Ortega. The operation, unilateral and without agreement between clubs - Barça only negotiated with the player - constitutes both for Ortega and Victoria Pavón, president of Leganés, “an almost irreparable damage”.
The march of Braithwaite and En-Nesyri leaves the Leganes without his scoring partner. The Danish had eight goals (six in the League and two in the Cup) while the Moroccan had scored four, all in the League. Although the low Braithwaite is the one that hurts the most. He was the second player with the most minutes of the squad (2,130) and the one who had played the most games (27 between League and Cup). A decisive player in the fight for the permanence in First of the team cucumber, penultimate (tied with the last, Espanyol) in the classification with 19 points, two of salvation. Therefore, Ortega insisted on the grievance that the clause entails. "Barcelona knows the damage it can do with the march of Braithwaite," he added.
The only way for Leganés, in addition to relying on the performance of the strikers remaining in the squad, Carrillo, Guerrero and Assalé (these last two incorporated in winter), goes through a special permit from the Federation and the League so that the Club can sign a substitute. Only a modification of the regulations can avoid a future Braithwaite case . Both entities could reform the text through an administrative process that would involve the RFEF Delegate Commission, its assembly and finally the Higher Sports Council for final approval.
An injury greater than five months
Article 124 of the general regulations of the federation, to which Barça has been accepted, says: “The issuance of a license outside the statutory periods may be exceptionally authorized when a footballer causes sick leave or sickness that carries a period of time of inactivity for more than five months, as long as the registration of the substitute player does not require the issuance of an international transfer certificate ”.
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