Barcelona sporting director Deco became visibly agitated while fielding questions on the uncertain future of Dani Olmo.
The Euro 2024 winner was signed in the summer for £47m. Barcelona prioritised Olmo’s arrival instead of Nico Williams as they only had a certain set of funds to work with – yet even those finances didn’t initially afford enough room in the club’s budget to register the attacking midfielder.
La Liga’s stringent financial regulations force every club to operate within a strict salary limit. Olmo sat out the team’s first two fixtures and could only be registered after Andreas Christensen was struck down with an Achilles injury. According to the division’s budgetary regulations, Barcelona were allowed to use 80% of Christensen’s salary to register another player. However, this is only a temporary measure and expires in January.
When Deco was repeatedly pushed on the topic of Olmo by Movistar reporter Ricardo Sierra before Barcelona’s 3-2 victory over Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday, he snapped. “We came here to talk about football,” the former Portugal international huffed. “About better things. About the game. For the moment we won’t talk about this.”
Deco vaguely added: “They are internal issues… Don’t worry, we’ll sort it out.”
As Christensen returns from his layoff, Barcelona will have to find room within their existing budget to get Olmo back on the books. That could take the form of player sales during the January transfer window and the Catalan giants are lining up a new financial lever for next year.
Despite his outburst, Deco’s overall message was positive. “We can surely register Dani Olmo before the end of the year,” he insisted. “The club is working and we have everything calm.
“The player is calm, don’t worry.”
