Manchester City have been cleared of wrongdoing over the signing of teenager Benjamin Garre from Argentinian club Velez Sarsfield, the Court of Arbitration for Sport has announced.
The newly-crowned Premier League champions could have faced a transfer ban had they been found guilty of breaching international transfer regulations when they signed Garre, then 16, in 2016.
City successfully argued that Garre's Italian passport entitled him to make the move.
Velez had their initial complaint rejected but took their case to the Lausanne-based CAS.
A hearing took place last year but the verdict has only now been delivered.
A statement from CAS read: "The appeal filed on 12 December 2016 by Club Atletico Velez Sarsfield against the decision issued on 24 August 2016 by the single judge of the sub-committee of the FIFA players' status committee (the challenged decision) is dismissed and, accordingly, the challenged decision is confirmed."
City could have been banned from signing players for up to two transfer windows had the ruling not gone in their favour.
Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid have been subjected to transfer bans for breaching rules around the signing of international players under the age of 18 in recent years.
Sky Bet transfer window specials: To sign for before 3rd September 2018