Camp Nou at Barcelona

As Barcelona fans the world over are starting to read the news about the transfer ban that the Catalan club has received, the sheer shock and terror in regards to FCB’s future should be tempered. While one of the world’s most storied youth programs seems to be the main culprit to handcuffing Barcelona for the next two transfer windows, the story on this situation still has some significant time to be told. How can this not be the worst news ever for a Barcelona squad that is trying to return to the summit of Europe? Let’s take a look…

First, this penalty is not yet set in stone. If you read the decision handed down, Barcelona still have 90 days to appeal the decision and prove that they have fixed the problem. Knowing how quick a major club can move when their back is up against the wall, it is entirely possible that Barcelona could have everything “up to code” by the time they submit an appeal. For everyone that always decries UEFA and Barcelona’s relationship (i.e. UEFAlona), this would work out for both organizations as Barcelona would seem less “preferred” by European football’s governing bodies and the footballing lawmakers would look like they are willing to enforce justice on any team (no matter the size). Although, I always giggle at how terrible the cheating for “UEFAlona” must be if the best they could arrange was the horrible demolishing by Bayern Munich last season…move on folks.

Second, Barcelona, while they would fall off the pace a bit, would survive better than most. This is not two years out of the transfer window, but only a removal from two transfer windows (summer of 2014 and January window of 2015). Considering that the only real transfer that would get actual playing time would be at keeper, Barcelona would probably be able to make a decent CL run and still be competitive in La Liga. Any big needs that arise could easily be addressed in the summer of 2015, and not spending a ton of money would certainly not be the worst thing to ever happen to Barca. On top of this, we have already mentioned the club’s impressive youth stable and they would be more prepared to plug holes than most. While it could keep them from the title, there is no doubt that Barcelona would still finish in the top three of La Liga and would make it out of their group stage of the CL.

Last, this is not the first case of this…and it did not “work” that time either. Chelsea got slapped with a similar ban over a different situation, and the free-spending London club successfully appealed the decision. As we mentioned earlier, allowing a team to appeal successfully from this allows the governing bodies to look like they are properly tracking the game while not making any of the major clubs too angry. There is a huge reason that every report mentions the 90-day appeal window as that will probably be the most important aspect once Barcelona get their appeal approved.

Stories like this are always intriguing as the story feels absolutely massive, but in a few months it will be relatively forgotten. Even if Barcelona’s appeal is rejected, little will change for Barcelona except that they will spend a few months eating into their debt. To keep this in perspective, they just splashed around $75 million on Neymar…so closing the wallet for a few months would not hurt the club’s bank account. Do you think that Barcelona will have a successful appeal? Will this lessen the cries of “UEFAlona” or will it actually increase the thought that refs and elected officials bend towards FCB? Very few even remember that Chelsea had to appeal a ban a few years ago…very few will remember this in 2015…

 

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