Adrien Silva: Leicester City do not rule out CAS appeal over signing

Leicester City have not ruled out appealing to the Court of Arbitration for Sport against Fifa's decision to reject Adrien Silva's registration.

On Wednesday, Fifa rejected a Football Association appeal, so the Foxes can still not register him to play.

Leicester will now only be able to add Silva to their playing squad when the transfer window reopens in January.

"We cannot hide our disappointment or that of the player at the short-term consequences of the decision," the club said in a statement.

"We maintain, and have made strong representations to Fifa's Players' Status Committee, that all parties involved in Adrien's transfer fulfilled their obligations, consistent with Fifa regulations and within the required timeframe.

"The club is reserving its position in relation to whether it will decide to appeal the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport."

Silva returned to Sporting's Estadio Jose Alvalade on Sunday and wished his former club's fans an emotional farewell before their 0-0 draw with rivals Porto.

He has been in the stands to watch Leicester play at King Power Stadium and has worked with fitness coaches at the club's Belvoir Drive training ground, but is barred from actually working alongside the Leicester squad.

He returned to Portugal last month to be with his family.

Leicester, who are 17th in the Premier League after just one win this season, sold Danny Drinkwater to Chelsea for £35m with Silva earmarked as his replacement.

Instead, Wilfred Ndidi, who signed from Genk last summer, has been paired with Andy King in the centre of midfield in recent matches.

Silva has been left out of Portugal's squad for their final World Cup qualifiers against Andorra and Switzerland and Foxes coach Craig Shakespeare said last month that the tournament was "in the back of his mind".