The thing with him saying that, is that Pueta was at the club training after the 1st of July (he went to Turkey on the 17th). So that doesn't track. If the deal didn't go through, he should've been at Leverkusen a long time ago. If he did his ACL in training and the appeal was lost, they'd be **** out of luck, no chance they would just let a multi-million Euro asset just train with someone else. I honestly think Baz is just a bit clueless.
I just wouldn't let him train with us (if he still is) as he can't play anyway. As you say, if he gets a bad injury this will get very messy legally.
We can laugh but this **** has unironically done more investigative work than Baz has all summer regarding Puerta and Laalaoui.
Baz has been reporting all summer that they can't be registered and would return to their selling clubs if the appeal wasn't successful hasn't he? Certainly in relation to Puerta. That seems to be the case as confirmation seems to be coming now from the German end. Though I wouldn't be surprised if the Moroccan kid ends up at Maribor one way or another. This guy is just enjoying the limelight and having a laugh.
And that’s been as clear as mud all summer. It’s also unprecedented for players to go back to their previous clubs after signing a contract at a new club just because they can’t be registered. When Barcelona had a transfer ban in summer 2015, Aleix Vidal and Arda Turan did not automatically return to Sevilla and Atlético Madrid simply because they couldn’t be registered for Barcelona until the following transfer window in January 2016. They were under contract at Barcelona and paid their salaries by Barcelona for six months before they could be registered. The EFL’s registration window begins on 1st July but obviously transfers can happen before then as the transfer window opened on 1st June until the 10th June, then reopened on the 16th June. This was done so teams in the Club World Cup could sign players early and have them in their squads for the tournament e.g. Alexander-Arnold at Real Madrid. So, it’s obviously possible for clubs to sign players in June and have them playing competitive games before their domestic registration window opens. This leads me to believe that Puerta and Laalaoui are still our players but not able to be registered for EFL competitions and I don’t understand why Cooper has taken this idea that they must return to Leverkusen and FUS Rabat when the EFL doesn’t even have the authority to void international transfers.
How the rules/contract law will apply has been clear as mud, but Baz has been pretty consistent on the outcome should the appeal not go through since the first few days of the embargo. Almost like he's being briefed by someone at the club. You'd have though that precedent set by previous comparative arbitration would have led to standard clauses being inserted in the clubs agreement as 'subject to relevant ratification' or similar
That 'confirmation' from the German end was quoting Baz as a source though, so it's all from our end really.
He could ask his contacts at the club how the transfers stand in relation to FIFA’s Transfer Matching System and ITCs. Phil Buckingham probably would’ve asked that for clarification but I guess that’s why Buckingham now works for The Athletic and Cooper churns out clickbait slop for a Reach outlet. EDIT: got Phil’s name wrong
Phil Parkinson works for Wrexham. But yeah, both Baz and Mike White do generally dumb down the detail in their reporting and focus more on soundbytes Athletic is a quality publication dealing with more long form content, which is why it's not advertising led and behind a paywall.
Got wires crossed. I meant Buckingham. Even when Buckingham was chief correspondent for City at the HDM, the quality was much better than now. It’s night and day compared to Cooper.
If all of this ‘speculation ‘ is still prevalent then it would suggest that the club are querying the whole EFL outcome and its impact on these two players futures , if it was cut and dried surely it would have been clarified by the club by now - no point in prolonging, nothing to be gained . So the forum guessing game continues and Baz hedges the outcome .
Whos guessing? Speculation seems to be largely on this forum. As expected.... https://x.com/bayer04Xtra/status/1958824736055603448
So.... by Puerta going back to Bayer does this mean a wage has been freed up ? Or because he wasn't registered was the wage never counted when EFL were doing their maths ? Seems a clusterfuck whatever the scenario
