It’s not a total surprise that the rules may be tilted in favour of the biggest clubs, but it is a surprise to hear The Barcelona president almost stick up for Leganes in this current situation.
A report from Goal.com reported that Barca President Josep Maria Bartomeu has defended the club’s decision to sign Martin Braithwaite from Leganes, but he also took the time to stick up for his fellow La Liga side.
It basically sounds like Barcelona paid the release clause for Braithwaite so Leganes didn’t have the option to block it, but the rules don’t then allow for them to make a replacement signing of their own.
READ MORE: Video: Former Barcelona forward Carles Perez scores for Roma vs Gent – Better than Martin Braithwaite?
Leganes are struggling against relegation this season and Braithwaite is one of their best players, so you can make a reasonable argument that this might be the difference between them staying up and going down.
It will be interesting to see if the rule that allows emergency signings is scraped or amended ahead of next year. You have to think that the big teams might like to keep it in case they run into injury problems, but the smaller ones must want to see some changes.