Barcelona are closing in on the signing of Brazilian right-back Douglas, according to Sao Paulo’s vice president of football Ataide Gil Guerreiro.

But the deal to recruit the 24-year-old has been complicated by FIFA’s decision to reject Barca’s appeal against a two-window transfer ban.

Speaking to Radio Globo, Gil Guerreiro said: “We’ve agreed everything, but the contract hasn’t been signed. A little problem has arisen.

“We’d asked Barcelona if they could loan Douglas back to us for a year after they’d bought him but now that they have been punished with this ban, they cannot.”

The ban, imposed for breaching rules on signing international players aged under 18, will come into effect in January so the club are keen to boost their numbers before the current transfer window closes.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.