Dani Olmo closer to Barcelona exit after registration request rejected
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Barcelona's Dani Olmo (left) could be forced to leave the club on Dec 31 as he could not be registered beyond that date.
PHOTO: AFP
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BARCELONA – A Spanish court on Dec 27 said it had rejected Barcelona’s request to register Dani Olmo beyond the year’s end, potentially pushing the attacker closer to leaving the Catalan giants for free.
The 26-year-old Spain playmaker was signed from Bundesliga club RB Leipzig last summer for a reported €60 million (S$85 million), but La Liga rules limiting spending on wages and transfers complicated his registration.
Barcelona, mired in debt, registered Olmo till Dec 31 with 80 per cent of injured defender Andreas Christensen’s pay, thanks to an exception allowing clubs to replace long-term absentees.
But 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 that it had rejected the 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.
Olmo cannot be registered for the rest of the season, “once it is understood that the player’s contract ends on Dec 31, 2024 and cannot be extended”, the court added.
The Spanish media said Olmo’s contract, initially set to run until 2030, includes a clause which allows him to be released if he cannot be registered.
Barcelona can appeal against the ruling and the club can reportedly resort to alternative means to secure the registration as well.
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.
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.
In other news at Barcelona, star winger Lamine Yamal has vowed to bounce back stronger after injuring his right ankle earlier in December. The club estimated at the time that he would be out for up to four weeks.
“I am in a recovery process, which I am very sure I will come back better from and with more determination,” the Spanish teenager said in a video posted on social media on Dec 27.
The 17-year-old has been an important player for Barcelona this season, registering six goals and 12 assists in 21 appearances. AFP
