A Spanish court has denied Barcelona’s request to register Dani Olmo beyond the end of the year, bringing the Spain playmaker closer to an exit from the Catalan club, potentially for free.
Olmo, who has scored six goals in 15 appearances this season, joined Barcelona from RB Leipzig last summer for a reported €62.5m. However, La Liga’s strict financial regulations on wages and transfers have complicated his registration process.
Barcelona, mired in debt, registered the 26-year-old to December 31 with 80 percent of injured defender Andreas Christensen’s pay thanks to an exception allowing clubs to replace long-term absentees.
After La Liga refused the club’s request to extend his registration to the end of the season, Barcelona took the case to court claiming unfair competition and seeking to register Olmo until June 30, 2025.
A Barcelona commercial court said in a ruling dated Monday that it had rejected the club’s requests as none of the criteria had been met.
“The aim of authorising the overspend is so that a long-term injury does not undermine the team’s competition, not so that the long-term injury allows the registration of players who exceed the limit with their salary,” which Barcelona tried to do, the court ruled.“The aim of authorising the overspend is so that a long-term injury does not undermine the team’s competition, not so that the long-term injury allows the registration of players who exceed the limit with their salary,” which Barcelona tried to do, the court ruled.
Spanish media said Olmo’s contract, initially set to run until 2030, includes a clause that would release the Euro 2024 champion if he could not be registered.
Barcelona can appeal the ruling and Spanish media reported that the club can resort to alternative means to secure the registration of the Spanish international, who has scored 11 goals in 41 games for his country.
These include further legal action, board members providing personal assets to guarantee the registration and selling VIP seat packages for the expanded future Camp Nou to generate extraordinary income, they said.
La Liga said it had applied the requirements equally to all teams and welcomed that no exception was made which could otherwise “seriously alter the equality of conditions” of the competition.
Olmo’s potential departure would be a huge blow to the Blaugrana, who have let slip their early lead and dropped to third in a tight title race.
Hansi Flick’s side sit three points adrift of leaders Atletico Madrid and two behind Real Madrid having played one game more than both rivals.
