Chelsea’s bid to freeze their transfer ban during the appeal process has been rejected by FIFA.
The Blues were rocked last month after football’s international governing body banned the club from signing players for the next couple of transfer windows through to the summer of 2020.
Chelsea, who breached rules over signing foreign players under-18, denied any wrongdoing and subsequently appealed the decision.
In the past Spanish clubs have still been able to sign players during the appeal process, but that that has not been the case this time around, with BBC Sport reporting that Chelsea have been “denied a request to freeze a transfer ban while they appeal against the punishment”.
So what next for the club?
It’s undoubtedly a huge blow for Chelsea whose only option now is “to take the issue to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in order to grant an interim ruling,” as reported in The Independent.
However, the club does have a simply staggering 41 players out on-loan, so they’re not exactly short of options, including the likes of Alvaro Morata (Atletico Madrid), Tammy Abraham (Aston Villa), Michy Batshuayi (Crystal Palace), and Tiemoue Bakayoko (AC Milan).
Meanwhile, United States international Christian Pulisic will be eligible to play for Chelsea in the summer as the club had already signed the player in January for £58million from Borussia Dortmund, before loaning him back to the German outfit through to the end of the current campaign.
