DEFENDER David Edgar has been left in limbo because of a red tape ruling blocking his loan move to Swansea.

It is almost three weeks since the Clarets stopper agreed to go back to South Wales until the end of the season, after spending the last six weeks of last season at the Liberty Stadium.

But, after scoring one goal in five starts, there is a possibility that Edgar could be heading back to Turf Moor without kicking a ball this time around after failing to get international clearance.

Although the Football League and the Football Association of Wales both sanctioned the deal on transfer deadline day, Fifa – football’s governing body – spotted an anomaly with the paperwork, which Swansea believe to be a mis-placed decimal point.

With Burnley’s Championship rivals keen to boost defensive numbers for their promotion push, following injuries to Garry Monk and Neil Taylor, manager Brendan Rodgers could be left with no option but to pull the plug on the deal and look elsewhere if the problem isn’t resolved by the end of the week.

“For a decimal point on the paperwork to stop a player playing is incredible,” said Rodgers.

“It’s a shame for David because he wants to be involved in the squad, but Fifa has left us with a tough decision to make in the next day or so.”

Canadian Edgar, who has made just six league and cup appearances for the Clarets this season, requires international clearance because he is moving from an English club to a Welsh club. The fact that both teams play in the same domestic league is of no irrelevance to the rules.

Fifa introduced a new, mandatory online electronic programme in October, called the Transfer Matching System, that tracks all international deals.

TMS was designed to improve the efficiency of the international transfer system, but around 70 deals, including Edgar’s, have been held up by Fifa while information between the clubs involved is cross-checked.

Swansea chairman Huw Jenkins said the problem occurred on Burnley’s paperwork, but I understand it is not yet clear where the fault lies.

“It’s a disappointing situation for the player and the two clubs,” said Jenkins.

“Everyone, apart from Fifa, is happy that the loan transfer was satisfactorily completed before the deadline.

“We were told there was one decimal point out of place on Burnley’s paperwork, a meaningless decimal point, and it has been extremely frustrating ever since trying to get Fifa to approve the loan deal. They are certainly not in any rush to get the matter resolved.

“As a football club we feel it’s an injustice that when we sign a player from a British club that plays in the same domestic league as us, then only ourselves and Cardiff City have to go through the process of getting international clearance.

“It used to be a fairly simple process between the two associations until Fifa came up with this new online system.

“It seems to have caused a lot of problems for a number of clubs.”

He added: “David Edgar is now in his third week with us and he is still unable to participate in the squad.

“As a club we feel we can’t prolonging this much longer and perhaps David may have to go back to Burnley where at least he can play football.”