BARNSLEY are considering legal action over their stalled attempt to sign Hugo Colace.
The Argentine has been paid for over two months at Oakwell and still cannot play for manager Simon Davey's team.
The club had hoped international clearance would be through in time for the former under-23 international to play on Saturday. Documents did not arrive in time.
FIFA are handling the matter and the delay is thought to be due to the non-cooperation of the Argentine FA and Colace's former club, Newell's OB.
Barnsley will ask the English FA to make a representation to FIFA on their behalf this afternoon.
Even after Colace has permission to play, they could pursue a case against the Argentine FA and Newell's.
Davey wanted to give Colace his debut against Derby County at the weekend.
Consolation for Barnsley was that goals from Iain Hume and Stephen Foster brought the club their first win of the season, lifting them off the bottom of the Championship table
Said Davey: "It is great that we can go into the international break with points on the board.
"I was getting a bit worried that we'd have to wait another two weeks."
Goalscorer Hume will fly out this week to join the Canadian squad for World Cup games against Honduras and Mexico.
He netted his second Barnsley goal on Saturday, a spectacular 25-yard volley.
"I think there is still better to come from me. I've just got to keep my head down and score more goals," he said.
"I generally don't set targets when I've joined a new club. I just try and do as well as I possibly can - score as many goals, play as many games as I can and next season I'll try and bettter that.
"This year I've got a clean slate so I'm just going out and giving everything I've got to help fire this club up the league."
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The full article contains 352 words and appears in Sheffield Star Barnsley newspaper.