Barcelona has been hit with a year long transfer plan because it had illegally signed U-18 players. There are three situations where FIFA permits international youth transfers:
The player’s parents have moved country for their own non-related reasons; The move takes place within the European Union if a player is aged between 16 and 18; The player’s home is less than 50 kilometres from the national border being crossed.
If put into affect immediately this would prevent Barcelona from signing players in the summer of 2014 and the winter of 2015 which would greatly inhibit the growth of their squad. Especially since Victor Valdes is set to leave their squad this summer and they need to find a replacement for him. This transfer ban could be a major blow to Barcelona and if this goes into effect this year then expect Barcelona to pay hand over fist to keep their players from transferring or else they could be in a very bad spot. Not to mention that this comes on the heels of the Neymar transfer drama which is not completely over yet.
Read More: http://espnfc.com/news/story/_/id/1772107/fifa-hits-barcelona-transfer-ban?cc=5901