3 months ago
20 
Aston Villa’s sale of Cameron Archer to Southampton could reportedly be under investigation as it’s suspected it may break FIFA rules.
Villa sold Archer to the Saints for a fee of around £15m this summer, and while the deal is expected to be fine with the Premier League, it would fall foul of FIFA regulations.
This is according to the Sun’s Alan Nixon, who explained the details of the situation in his latest blog post.
According to Nixon, the issue with Villa’s sale is that it came so soon after they brought Archer in in the first place.
FIFA rules state: “No club or player shall be involved in a bridge transfer. It shall be presumed, unless established to the contrary, that if two consecutive transfers of the same player occur within a period of 16 weeks, the parties involved have participated in a bridge transfer. The FIFA Disciplinary Committee will impose sanctions on any party involved in a bridge transfer.”

This could be worrying news for Villa amid the Premier League already taking measures to crack down on over-spending by its clubs.
Everton and Nottingham Forest were both docked points last season.
