Barcelona strive to retain Olmo amid deadline pressure

Barcelona faced a race against time on Tuesday to retain Dani Olmo after a Spanish court rejected the club’s second attempt to extend the star’s registration.  

The financially strapped Catalan club initially registered Olmo, their marquee signing from last summer, with La Liga until December 31, 2024.

However, the league’s strict spending regulations prevented an extension to June 30, 2025.

With legal options exhausted, Barcelona scrambled for alternatives to keep the Spain playmaker on their books before the midnight deadline in Spain.

The situation underscores the club’s ongoing financial struggles and the challenges of navigating La Liga’s fiscal constraints.

A Barcelona court on Monday rejected a request to extend the registration, after a commercial court in the Catalan capital made the same decision last week.

The heavily indebted club registered Olmo with 80 percent of injured defender Andreas Christensen’s pay thanks to an exception allowing clubs to replace long-term absentees.

The commercial court argued that overspending was authorised to prevent a long-term injury undermining a team’s competitiveness but not to register players whose wages exceeded the salary limit.

Spanish media reported that Barcelona had submitted documents to La Liga on Tuesday showing it would generate 100 million euros ($103 million) to finance Olmo’s registration by selling VIP seats at its future expanded Camp Nou stadium.

Olmo’s contract, initially set to run until 2030, includes a clause that would release him if he could not be registered, according to Spanish media.

The Spain playmaker’s potential departure due to an administrative imbroglio would be a damaging and embarrassing blow to the third-placed Blaugrana’s title bid.

The 26-year-old has notched five goals in La Liga this season and starred as Spain clinched Euro 2024 glory in Germany.