Manchester City face the prospect of a transfer ban if they are judged to have broken rules around the signing of a foreign teenage player at a court case due to be heard next week.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) will convene on Monday to hear Argentine club Velez Sarsfield’s claims that City acted unethically by approaching Benjamin Garré when he was still 15 and then flouted transfer rules by signing the attacking midfielder when he turned 16.

Fifa rejected an initial complaint from Velez last September which prompted the club to take City and the world governing body to CAS. If Velez win their case, City could be banned from registering players for two transfer windows.

Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid have all been subjected to transfer bans in the past few years after being found guilty of breaching rules around the signing of international players under the age of 18.

City have strongly dismissed suggestions that one of the reasons they are chasing such a high number of players in this summer’s transfer window is in order to protect themselves in the event a ban is forthcoming. They have already signed goalkeeper Ederson Moraes and Portugal playmaker Bernardo Silva for a combined £78.3 million and are pursuing at least another four players and possibly as many as six more.