But if they can’t sign a replacement they are going to be very reluctant to sell. Imagine if they sell RLC and suffer a couple of serious injuries and they can’t sign a replacement for 2 years.
I can’t decide what I think of transfer bans as a punishment. It seems there could be unintentional consequences, for example Chelsea may refuse to sell Rúben Loftus-Cheek because they can’t get a replacement but not give him much game time either. The result is a promising young player stagnates.