Just two weeks after Barcelona's transfer ban expired, their La Liga rivals Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid are dealing with the same punishment.
Real have already indicated that they intend to appeal the suspension which would see them barred from signing players for two transfer windows for alleged breaches of international transfer and registration rules for players under the age of 18.
Off The Ball's European football correspondent Graham Hunter joined us on tonight's show to tells us about what has been going on and the likely consequences.
"Given that Real Madrid and Atleti have been told about this right now, how they filibuster in such a way that they time their appeal and suspension of the ban to allow them to have the summer window and then shunt the ban along to next January, I'm not quite sure," he said, comparing it to the timing of Barcelona's own similar experience.
Picture by: Francisco Seco / AP/Press Association Images
But will this lead to a mad rush of incomings and outgoings at both clubs?
Graham feels, "in the case of Real Madrid particularly, they will suffer heavily if they don't spend now because their plans were to sell strategically and buy strategically for a number of reasons" especially given that manager Zinedine Zidane has just taken over and is supposed to put his stamp on the team.
Graham also explains why the less wealthy Atletico are more prepared for what is to come in comparison to their city rivals.
Listen to the full interview on the Football Show podcast.
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