Analysis - 'A player in limbo'
Registering a player is not just about sending a single file, it's a group of forms which need emailing/faxing/posting over to Fifa by the 23:00 BST transfer deadline.
In this case, Leicester had successfully sent through most of the paperwork on time, bar one form, and because that form arrived late the whole process was rejected. It reminds me of doing my GCSEs and being told that however good my paper was, it would score a zero if I forgot to put my name on.
You have to send a passport, a copy of the contract and several other items before the deal is done. Fourteen seconds might seem like a ludicrous amount of time to squabble over but a deadline is a deadline and if Fifa row back on this now then imagine other clubs saying 'hold on three years ago we missed it by 25 seconds', it would never end.
The only way Fifa could still allow this to happen while standing by their deadline is to ratify Adrien Silva's registration and say that because the documents were on their way (in the post, in the cloud, whatever) that it meets their criteria.
Fifa's statement sounds pretty resolute though, they have listened to the Football Association's case on Leicester's behalf and simply palmed them off by referring them to the regulations.
The player is left a little bit in limbo. The problem could come in that there could now be an argument between Leicester and Sporting. One of the two clubs owns him.
Sporting are saying he is a Leicester player. I get the feeling Leicester might decide if their appeal is rejected that they don't think he's theirs.
