Barcelona have signed Turkey midfielder Arda Turan from Atletico Madrid for an initial fee of £24m.
The Spanish champions said the deal for the 28-year-old could reach £29m with potential add-ons.
Turan will not be able to play for the club until January as Barca are unable to register new players until 2016 under the terms of a Fifa ban.
He scored 22 goals and provided 32 assists in four seasons with Atletico after joining from Galatasaray in 2011.
Barca were banned from signing players in 2015 after being found guilty of breaching Fifa’s rules on the transfer of players aged under 18.
The signing of Turan, who has played 81 times for Turkey, is also complicated by their ongoing presidential election campaign.
In the absence of a president, the Catalan club are being administered by a special commission, which had to approve the transfer.
The commission included an unusual clause which means whoever wins the July 18 election has an option to sell Turan back to Atletico within two days for 10% less than the initial £24m outlay.
Luis Enrique’s side – who won La Liga, the Copa del Rey and the Champions League last season – have also signed winger Aleix Vidal for £16m from Sevilla this summer.
Editor’s Note: So Barcelona aren’t being held back by any transfer embargo, with a second signing waiting in the wings come January. Will Barcelona feel the effects of no new names in the Summer or can they carry the momentum of their treble winning season into the 2015/16 campaign. One thing they can rely on is that they are faltering in the first half of the season then they at least will have some solid reinforcements for the second half of the season.
Whether this means there will be any players exiting the Nou Camp remains to be seen. Vidal was purchased with Dani Alves set to leave the club but now he has signed a new contract they seem well covered at Right Back while Turan will fill the massive gap left by Xavi departing for Qatar. The bigger question will be if Pedro decides that he can no longer be a bit part player for Barcelona and chooses a move to the Premier League in which there will be no shortage of suitors for the 27 year old.
your title is Turan Turan is this a typing fault???
but i really like the post well done:)))
No it’s a pun on the band “Duran Duran”
right, sorry good post though
Thanks!