Leicester City remain hopeful of fielding Adrien Silva before the end of the calendar year, despite being told the papers to confirm his transfer arrived late.
The Foxes thought they had beaten the 31 August deadline to sign players this summer when they landed Silva from Sporting Lisbon for £22million, but it has since emerged that the documentation to confirm the deal arrived with the Football Association an agonising 14 seconds after the deadline.
Although the FA immediately forwarded the papers to FIFA’s Transfer Matching System (TMS), they were rejected by the world governing body because midnight had passed. But Leicester officials are confident the papers were sent before the midnight deadline, despite TMS showing they arrived late.
On Wednesday afternoon, FIFA confirmed: “We can confirm that FIFA has been contacted by The Football Association in connection with the registration of the player Adrien Silva and the club Leicester City. FIFA has replied accordingly providing reference to applicable regulations.”
The FA is now working with the King Power Stadium club to try and resolve the situation, and hope to persuade FIFA that the transfer should be allowed to stand, otherwise Craig Shakespeare will be unable to play Silva – signed as Danny Drinkwater’s replacement – until the New Year.
