:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/45865900/487850367.0.jpg)
Young Liverpool centre half Rafa Paez is likely to be unable to play football for the remainder of the season after FIFA blocked the appeal to allow his loan to La Liga’s SD Eibar to go through. Following the discovery of paperwork errors, FIFA was called in to rule on whether the deal could go through. They ruled it cannot.
Paez was sent on loan to Bologna at the start of the season, but unable to get playing time, Liverpool recalled him in January and began to look for a new temporary home for the 20-year-old defender. That home was meant to be Eibar, but as they now cannot register the player and he isn’t registered with Liverpool, he finds himself in footballing limbo.
"As far as we know, the player is unable to play until the end of the season," agent Luis Fernandez told the IBTimes. "We have a meeting with Liverpool officials to see if we can find another solution. As of today, the player plans to stay at Eibar just training until the end of the campaign. In Spain he cannot play this season either at Eibar or with another club because it is impossible to register him out of the two transfer windows, but maybe the FA regulations will allow us to do something."
For their part, SD Eibar continue to insist everything was handled properly on their end and that the error occurred at the Spanish Football Federation’s offices. They also claim to have properly followed subsequent procedures set out to deal with situations involving deals that would have been completed in time were it not for paperwork delays or errors.
"Having analysed all the documentation," read a statement from the Spanish club," [the] judge has confirmed the denial of the transfer, despite that all parties were in agreement that it was a simple administrative error which was corrected immediately and with the documentation sent on time. With this decision, FIFA leaves Rafa Paez without the opportunity of playing for the remainder of the season."
