Dani Olmo is the big signing of Barcelona’s summer — but he isn’t allowed to play for them right now.
It’s a situation that needs some explaining.
Attacking midfielder Olmo, 26, rejoined boyhood club Barca in a €60million move (£50.8m, $66.7m at current rates) from RB Leipzig of Germany two weeks ago, having shone for Spain in their European Championship triumph the previous month.
But Barcelona’s ongoing money problems mean they have not been able to register him with La Liga yet. If that situation sounds familiar, it’s because they were in a similar position last summer. And in the summer before that, too.
Speaking a day before their match at home against Athletic Bilbao tomorrow (Saturday), manager Hansi Flick said he “hopes” Olmo will be available. But sources close to the player, who like all those mentioned in this article preferred to speak anonymously to protect relationships, have revealed his frustration over a problem that does not seem likely to be resolved imminently — although with Barca, we’ve almost come to expect late, dramatic developments on this subject.
Here’s the full picture, as it presently stands.
Why can’t Olmo play for Barcelona?
La Liga sets a salary limit for every team in the Spanish top flight, calculated according to each club’s revenue. Because of a €100million shortfall in their accounts for last season, Barcelona have been finding it hard to meet their given figure — and that has meant difficulty in registering their new players with the league. Only players registered with the competition’s governing body can be selected to participate in it.
Olmo was presented as a Barca player on August 12 at the club’s traditional season-opening Joan Gamper Trophy friendly, where visitors Monaco of France’s Ligue 1 were 2-0 winners. He did not play in that match as he had only arrived three days before, but the expectation was he would be available for Barca’s first fixture of the league season, away to Valencia, five days later.
Olmo in training last week (Javier Borrego/Europa Press via Getty Images)
However, Olmo was not registered by then. Flick said he wasn’t considered as he needed more time to train with his new team, but he wouldn’t have been able to pick him if he’d wanted to.
A week later, Barca host Athletic Club at the Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys, their temporary home while the Camp Nou undergoes extensive renovations, tomorrow. As it stands, Olmo is not eligible to play in that one either.
What have the club done about the situation?
During their pre-season tour of the United States this summer, club sources at Barca told The Athletic they were optimistic the problem with La Liga’s salary limit could be sorted out.
Fixing the situation meant reducing their wage bill and/or bringing in extra revenue. They have tried to do both.
At the beginning of the summer, Barca had plans to sell players. Even centre-back Ronald Araujo was lined up as one who could potentially move, before he was injured playing for Uruguay at the Copa America. Since then, the summer sales of Marc Guiu, Estanis Pedrola, Julian Araujo and Chadi Riad have brought in about €28million, while Oriol Romeu and Sergino Dest left on free transfers, creating space on the wage bill.
And today, Ilkay Gundogan’s free transfer back to Manchester City was also confirmed.
Despite Gundogan’s departure, Barca have still not been able to register Olmo (Pedro Salado/Getty Images)
But although Gundogan, signed from City as a free agent a year ago, was one of Barca’s top three earners, club sources say his move still does not mean Olmo’s registration can finally be completed. And a mooted loan exit for Vitor Roque — the striker is close to joining Seville-based Real Betis for the rest of the season — would not affect their salary limit either, as he is not registered with La Liga yet himself.
Barcelona have also been trying to raise funds to cover revenue they forecast in accounts for last season but which did not arrive — in a situation connected to the failure of their ‘Barca Vision’ financial lever. The latest development on that came earlier this month, when the club’s catering provider stepped in to provide an immediate cash injection as a new partner in a project related to “Web3, NFTs and the metaverse”.
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This does not seem to have brought them fully in line with La Liga’s rules either — though some progress has been made over the summer.
Barca have been able to register new signing Pau Victor, who arrived in a €3million deal with fellow La Liga side Girona in July —but Olmo remains in limbo.
How does Olmo feel about it?
He is not particularly happy with the situation.
Before signing, he was aware of the struggles Barcelona are going through, and there is a degree of trust in regards to them solving the issue as soon as possible. But at the same time, the message about Olmo not being totally fit to play last week did not impress him — according to sources close to the player.
Olmo and Barca team-mates before the Joan Gamper Trophy (Manaure Quintero/AFP via Getty Images)
Another interesting thing to mention is that Nico Williams is set to face Barca on Saturday.
Barcelona turned to Olmo’s signing after Williams turned them down — the Catalan club were interested in paying the 22-year-old Spain winger’s release clause, which industry figures have placed at around €55million, but he decided to stay at Athletic for at least one more season.
What might happen next?
Lessons from previous summers might well be instructive here.
Last August, it was only thanks to a late flurry of transfer activity that free-agent arrival Inigo Martinez could finally be registered, and club president Joan Laporta and other directors had to give personal bank guarantees, putting their own wealth at risk, for La Liga to accept the registration of deadline-day loan signings Joao Felix and Joao Cancelo. It was the third such bank guarantee Barcelona executives had arranged over the previous 12 months.
The summer before that, 2022, there was a delay in registering Jules Kounde, who only made his debut two games into the league season, despite him joining from Sevilla a month earlier.
The actual deadline to get a player registered in time for them to play in a La Liga match is just before kick-off. Before the start of every game, each club needs to provide the referee with squad lists they are planning to use. As long as every player on the list is approved by La Liga’s regulatory body by then, they can be involved.
But if Olmo is not given the green light by the close of the summer transfer window next Friday, August 30, Barca would not be able to register him until January, when the winter one opens.
Everyone involved will be hoping a resolution can be found well before that.
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(Top photo: Manaure Quintero/AFP via Getty Images)
