Barcelona Transfer News: Arda Turan Appeal Verdict Delivered by FIFA

FIFA have reportedly rejected Barcelona's appeal to register summer signing Arda Turan before January after Rafinha was lost to a long-term injury.

The Catalan giants have been banned from registering players for the last two transfer windows, hence Turan's ineligibility to play for Barca despite his summer arrival from Atletico Madrid.

However, Barcelona appealed to have Turan registered early as they attempted to exploit a loophole that allows registration outside of a transfer window in the case of a serious injury to another player, and their assertion was that the ban lifted on August 31, per MailOnline's Pete Jenson. 

Joaquin Maroto of Spanish outlet AS reports that FIFA have "thrown out" the appeal—submitted through the Spanish FA (RFEF)—and told Barca that their sanction remains in place until January.

Giuseppe Bellini/Getty Images

Such an outcome was widely expected, even by Turan's agent, Ahmet Bulut, per Esports Cope (h/t Sergi Font of Marca):

"He's pleased he might get the chance to play before January but knows that it won't be in any way easy to get FIFA's permission. We aren't that optimistic. Hopefully, they'll say yes, but we're being realistic. He had come to terms with the idea of not being able to play until January."

Rafinha has been ruled out for the next six months after picking up a serious injury against Roma.

Having sold Pedro to Chelsea in the summer, Barca boss Luis Enrique will now be lacking depth in central midfield and attack until January, and Bleacher Report's Sam Tighe has his concerns over what impact that will have:

Enrique still has his phenomenal starting trio of Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez at his disposal, but with fixtures coming thick and fast in the latter part of 2015, he cannot rely on them to be fit all the time.

Munir el Haddadi can provide cover, but the 20-year-old is far too inexperienced to be a totally reliable option.

Barcelona are currently paying the price for their own transgressions. The reason they were handed a transfer ban in the first place is because they breached FIFA rules over the signing of international players under the age of 18.

They only have to get to January before they can register Turan—and other summer signing Aleix Vidal—but they could suffer because of a lack of depth before then.