Barcelona have taken La Liga to court in a desperate bid to ensure that star midfielder Dani Olmo will be allowed to play for the club in 2025.
The former La Masia talent was made to wait until the third week of the season before he could officially make his senior debut. Olmo came off the bench to score a late winner against Rayo Vallecano and fittingly tapped an imaginary watch in celebration.
That delay was a result of Barcelona’s struggles to adhere to La Liga’s strict financial regulations. The cash-strapped Catalan giants were only able to find room within the salary cap to register Olmo after a serious injury to Andreas Christensen. La Liga rules stipulate that 80% of an injured player’s salary can be reallocated for a new squad member.
Christensen is now back fit and the short-term fix will be void once Olmo’s six-month temporary contract expires on 31 December. Barcelona have gone to the courts in search of a “precautionary measure”, asking the judge to allow them to process Olmo’s registration in January, according to a report from Spanish publication Marca.
This desperate appeal will be first heard at a hearing on Monday 23 December before a verdict is expected to be delivered four days later on Friday 27 December.
If this measure is not granted and Barcelona cannot source more investment before the end-of-the-year deadline, they would have to start the process of registering Olmo from scratch. There is also the risk that the player walks away from this mess entirely, as he is believed to have a clause in his contract which would allow him to leave as a free agent if he is not registered to play.
In the event that Barcelona are granted an extension by the courts, they would theoretically be able to open up more room in the budget by frantically offloading players during the January transfer window.
The club thought that they had found a solution to the financial complication regarding Olmo when they agreed a huge sponsorship deal with Nike earlier this month. However, the funds from this arrangement have proven to be insufficient and Barcelona were blocked from pulling the same injury trick again after the income opened up by Marc-Andre ter Stegen’s extended absence was used to register Wojciech Szczesny mid-season.
The last throw of the dice for Barcelona is a personal bank guarantee from the board members. This final offering puts their own money at risk. According to an estimation from The Athletic, Barcelona need around €60m to comply with La Liga’s salary limit.
When repeatedly quizzed on the subject earlier this month, Barcelona sporting director Deco snapped at the assembled journalists, but did stress: “We can surely register Dani Olmo before the end of the year.”
