Barcelona did not sign Mexican right-back Julián Araujo because he was 18 seconds late in submitting his transfer paperwork.
Barcelona director of football Mateu Alemany said on Wednesday that a “system error” had caused the club to miss the midnight deadline at the end of Tuesday’s transfer window.
Alemany said the club was talking to FIFA to see if the transfer could still be completed.
Araujo, 21, was born in the United States and would move from the Los Angeles Galaxy to Major League Soccer.
Alemany said the club planned to bring Araujo to be used initially in Barcelona’s “B” squad.
Still struggling to comply with the Spanish league’s strict financial fair play rules, Barcelona made no additions to their squad in the transfer window, but were able to hand young star Gavi a first-team contract.
The Catalan club left some salary margin with the retirement of veteran defender Gerard Piqué and the departures of forward Memphis Depay to Atlético de Madrid and defender Héctor Bellerín to Sporting de Lisbon.
“The three departures meant significant financial savings for us,” Alemany told Movistar.
Associated Press report.
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