Manchester City could face transfer ban after being reported to Fifa for 'trafficking' of youngster

Manchester City could face a transfer ban after they were reported to Fifa for an alleged ‘trafficking’ of a schoolboy they beat Manchester United and Barcelona to sign.

Argentine club Velez Sarsfield announced they had lodged a formal complaint against City after Benjamin Garre joined the club in July when he turned 16 years old.

However, Velez claim the Premier League leaders offered tried to purchase the youngster when he was 15, which is a breach on Fifa’s regulations on the transfer of minors.

There are strict rules on clubs signing players under 18 years old from outside the European Union to prevent the exploitation of minors.

Barcelona were hit with a two window transfer ban for breaching this, which they served last season, while Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid have also been hit with the ban for the next two windows, although they are appealing the decision.

Velez claim City approached them about the former Man United triallist in June and proposed to pay them €50,000 for when Garre made his professional debut with further payments totalling up to €1.05m depending on subsequent appearances.

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They say the proposal was signed by City’s director of football Txiki Begiristain.

Velez rejected the proposal with president Raul Gamez saying on Wednesday: “I have never experienced such an immoral act.”

City deny any wrongdoing and say Garre holds an Italian passport which, under Fifa rules, allows players from the EU to sign a professional contract on their 16^th birthday.

Section 19 of Fifa’s Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players states international transfers of players are only permitted in three circumstances if the player is not over the age of 18.

The first exception is when the transfer is caused by a player’s parents moving due to work reasons; the second is when the transfer is to a club within 50km of the border of the country; and the third is if the transfer takes place within the EU of a player over 16.

Velez vowed to take the case all the way to the Court of Arbitration of Sport and were confident Fifa would punish City in the same manner as they did Real, Atletico and Barcelona.

In a statement, club president Gamez said: “They offered ­money to take a 15-year-old child who is in the middle of his stage of development. We don’t know what they offered the father and the child in order to convince them.

“In Vélez, we defend values and we act in good faith. We are not interested in collecting €50,000 or €1,000,000 if said action is prohibited and may affect the player.

“What is most important in these cases is the formation and development of the child, in a supportive environment, above economic or strictly sports interests. It is crazy to think that our youngsters can find themselves in a situation of vulnerability or abuse in a foreign country, without their family or somebody to protect them.

“We consider Manchester City is a club that cannot violate the regulations of Fifa and even less act with bad faith. We are interested in protecting the child we have been educating since he was 11 and therefore, if necessary, we will appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.”