Dani Olmo registration saga could finally come to an end for Barca with club close to sealing a deal for VIP seating.
Dani Olmo’s registration can finally be made after Barcelona have reportedly closed a last-minute €100m (£82.9m) deal to sell VIP boxes at the newly renovated Camp Nou to Middle Eastern investors.
On Saturday, club president Joan Laporta exercised a sale option, which the club believes will see the first payment made before December 31. This is because the registration deadline is only three days away, and Barcelona faces the possibility that Olmo will leave as a free agent just six months after joining on a €55 million (£45.6 million) transfer.
The agreement follows a court’s decision to dismiss Barcelona’s appeal to keep Olmo registered over the end of the year. Barcelona contended that the league’s economic panel lacked the authority to impose restrictions and that refusing the extension would violate the player’s labour rights.
However, their plea was turned down by Ignacio Fernández de Senespleda, the city’s commercial court’s presiding judge, who had granted a similar request with midfielder Gavi in 2023. As a result, Barça had to act quickly to figure out how to adhere to La Liga’s FFP regulations and prevent the dreadful possibility of Olmo leaving the team.
Barcelona had to use Article 77 of the league rules, which permits clubs to temporarily expend up to 80% of the salary due to an injured player on an alternative, to register the Euro 2024 star after they had signed him from RB Leipzig in week three of the season.
Andreas Christensen’s achilles injury gave Olmo enough time to get registered, but only until the end of the year. As a result, Barcelona had more time to come up with solutions and achieve what is usually referred to as “1:1,” which is the point at which a club may spend one euro for every euro they make when expenses and income are balanced.
Barcelona is subject to restrictions on player registration because they have over the €426 million salary cap set for the 2024–25 season. Olmo receives a salary of little more than €21 million annually for accounting purposes.
The league’s statement stated that the purpose of Article 77 is “to not [permit a serious injury to] harm a team’s capacity to compete, not to register players whose salary means that they exceed the limit, which is what Barcelona are pretending.”
This season, Dani Olmo has made 15 appearances for Barça and netted six goals. The 26-year-old has been spotted celebrating by tapping his wrist with Damian Lillard, a basketball player who is visiting Milwaukee.