Barcelona confirm CAS appeal over failed winter transfer

Barcelona director Mateu Alemany has confirmed the club have appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) over the failed deadline day signing of LA Galaxy right-back Julian Araujo.

A deal had been wrapped up to sign the 21-year-old but official documentation to complete the transfer was completed 18 seconds past the deadline.

Barcelona appealed to FIFA in an attempt to get the transfer over the line but the global governing body were not interested and declined to authorise the move.

Now, Alemany has confirmed Barcelona have refused to accept defeat and have lodged a fresh appeal with CAS to try and get the deal done as soon as possible.

“He’s a footballer who we’ve been following for some time and because of circumstances, because of an error in FIFA’s system, we couldn’t sign him,” Alemany told a press conference. “The famous 18 seconds.

“He was a footballer who was coming for the second team. We count on him and are looking for solutions, via CAS or to play at a club for five months before joining us.”

LA Galaxy coach Greg Vanney also admitted he is hopeful of seeing Araujo granted his move to Barcelona in the coming days.

“We have optimism for Jules and for the whole thing to get done, but we don’t until the actual review has been done,” Vanney said.

On the negotiations for Araujo, Vanney added: “I think this is the second window that we’ve had some interaction with them about Julian. Pretty late in the window, did the discussion about what a deal would actually look like start to get really clearer and negotiated. It was over the last three or four days where those discussions started to pick up and get momentum.

“Things started to happen fast, hence the reason it came down to the wire. He’s clearly someone they’ve had on their radar because in previous windows they’ve poked around and asked about him.”