Athletic Club announce Aymeric Laporte setback | OneFootball

La Liga outfit Athletic Club have this week announced an altogether considerable setback on the transfer front.

This comes amid confirmation that the Basques have been rejected in their efforts to register Aymeric Laporte with the club.

Defender Laporte for his part travelled back to his home country of Spain from Saudi Arabia earlier this week.

As much came with a view to putting pen to paper on terms with former employers Athletic Club.

On Wednesday, a full 48 hours on from the transfer deadline, however, Los Leones were yet to make official the signing of their one-time stopper.

And as alluded to above, an insight into precisely why has since been provided.

As per a lengthy statement across Athletic’s website and social media platforms, FIFA have rejected the RFEF’s request to secure the necessary documentation for Laporte to be signed:

‘Athletic Club wishes to inform its members and all its fans that FIFA has denied the Royal Spanish Football Federation’s (RFEF) request to obtain an International Transfer Certificate (ITC) from the Saudi Arabian Football Federation in order to transfer player Aymeric Laporte.

The events are as follows:

1. On September 1st, and within the player registration period permitted by law, player Aymeric Laporte Fevre, the Saudi Arabian club Al-Nassr Football Club, and Athletic Club agreed to the player’s transfer to Athletic Club, subject to the fulfillment of certain conditions.

2. Athletic Club submitted the transfer request to the FIFA TMS platform on September 1st, although the transfer request could not be fully completed on that date for reasons beyond its control and due to external factors beyond its control.3. On September 2, the RFEF requested FIFA to authorize a validation exception in order to obtain the International Transfer Certificate from the Saudi Arabian Football Federation, so that the player can be registered by Athletic Club.4. On September 3, the RFEF informed Athletic Club via email that FIFA denies the request and the possibility of obtaining the International Transfer Certificate.

Athletic Club continues working to achieve the wishes of the three parties (Al-Nassr, the player, and Athletic Club) and is studying all possibilities within the existing legal framework.

In any case, Athletic Club wishes to inform that if the player D. Aymeric Laporte does not ultimately join Athletic Club, the agreements will be void of any kind between the parties, without any financial consequences for our club, in compliance with the suspensive conditions of the contracts between Athletic Club, Al-Nassr, and the player.

‘Athletic Club, in its commitment to transparency and providing accurate information to its members, will provide full explanations once all avenues for resolving the current situation have been exhausted.’

Conor Laird – GSFN