Could Financial Fair Play sanctions scuttle the Xherdan Shaqiri transfer?

Inter-Milan may be in trouble. The club has been under UEFA scrutiny since last year due to their mounting debt pile and now according to multiple sources in Italy, the languishing Italian giants are in line for sanctions. The club has accrued a debt of €180M over the last three transfer windows and this week's inspection from UEFA did not go well as now the club are at UEFA headquarters negotiating their sanction.

On the table are several options for the Inter which could include a fine, the potential withholding of cash prizes for European or, most importantly to Bayern Munich fans, a transfer ban.

That potential transfer ban is the most interesting to us as Xherdan Shaqiri is currently on a 6-month loan with a €15M purchase option to Inter-Milan. With the looming threat of financial fair play, it's easy to see why Inter were keen to push the actual transfer out to the summer and just bring Shaqiri, and ex-Bayern star Lukas Podolski, in on loan - even over the grumblings of Bayern Munich who were reportedly looking to sell Shaqiri outright.

If UEFA does lay down a transfer ban, Bayern Munich could have their wantaway Swiss attacking midfielder back in the summer. While the fact that it was a loan with a buy option could always have potentially landed Shaqiri back at Bayern in the summer, most indications are that Inter-Milan was going to exercise the purchase option in the summer. That possibility is also probably contingent on how the contract, and the buy-out clause, were written which makes the situation murkier.

Let's hope that UEFA only lay down minor (as much as losing millions of euros can be seen as minor) sanctions and Shaqiri is able to make a permanent move to Inter-Milan over the summer. Otherwise, who's ready for a summer transfer window where everyone knows Xherdan Shaqiri is for sale?