Dani Olmo moved to Barcelona for €60 million in the summer of 2024. Just five months later, he is already threatening to leave on a free transfer. How is this possible and who is to blame?
No time? blue News summarizes for you
- Dani Olmo is threatening to leave on a free transfer after just five months at FC Barcelona because the club cannot re-register him.
- The reason for this is the Spanish league's strict salary cap, which Barcelona have continued to exceed after employing numerous controversial financial gimmicks.
- In his latest maneuver, president Laporta tried to convince the league with the help of an obscure sale of VIP boxes that had not yet been built. So far without success.
- According to media reports, Olmo could use a clause to move on a free transfer, which would be a sporting and financial disaster for the heavily indebted club.
Happy New Year to the "Culers": Right at the start of the year, the non-registration of Dani Olmo is a financial and sporting debacle as well as an unprecedented public PR disaster. The club is on the verge of having to let European champion Dani Olmo, who was signed for 60 million euros in the summer, leave on a free transfer after just six months because he cannot be registered for the second half of the season. How is that possible?
A new year, (not) a new trick
Unlike in most European leagues, there is a kind of "salary cap" in the Spanish LaLiga. This is basically explained quite simply: a club may only spend as much money as it earns. As soon as expenditure equals income, the league does not allow any further player registrations.
This rule is anything but new and FC Barcelona have always been aware of it, but president Laporta has always used a new trick to get around the salary cap. Since taking over the reins of the heavily indebted club in March 2021, he has had little choice. After all, in his opinion, FC Barcelona should still be able to sign world stars and play at the top in all competitions despite its high debts.
For example, he bought a certain Robert Lewandowski in the summer of 2022. In order to be able to register the then 33-year-old, Laporta quickly sold shares in the in-house digital marketing agency "Barça Studios", now "Barça Vision". A questionable move for those thinking in the long term, but one that was supposed to put 200 million euros in the club's coffers. Lewandowski was allowed to play.
A year later, Laporta played another trick - and managed to sign Olmos at the last minute because defender Andreas Christensen was injured shortly before the deadline. Thanks to the now famous 77th rule from the Spanish league code, the Spaniard was allowed to be registered instead of the Dane. However, this was only for a period of six months, which is why the drama surrounding Olmo is currently repeating itself.
In the meantime, Laporta hoped to generate the necessary additional income through a new contract with shirt partner Nike. "We could have been 1:1 this summer, but we thought it was better to wait and then get a better contract," said the Barcelona president on September 3. But the poker did not work out. The contract announced in November was not enough to register Olmo.
A new problem, (no) new solution
The situation became even more complicated at the beginning of October when auditors downgraded the valuation of the subsidiary "Barça Vision". The reason: the revenue of €200 million announced by Barcelona in 2022 was significantly lower. Suddenly, the accounts showed a net loss of 91 million euros.
The league reacted by further lowering Barcelona's salary cap - which meant that even more new money was suddenly needed to register Olmo beyond December 31. But Laporta wouldn't be Laporta if he hadn't tried another trick to balance the books.
Shortly before the turn of the year, another lever was used: the sale of future income from the VIP zones of the Camp Nou stadium, which is currently being renovated.Thetrade newspaper "The Athletic" described the deal as "a classic Laporta": the sale of seats that do not yet exist in a stadium where nobody is currently playing, to investors whose identity was concealed. All for a price that nobody knows exactly.
Problem solved - announced the Spanish newspaper "Marca". However, this report turned out to be a hoax. The league refused to accept any further verbal promises from the Catalans and demanded corresponding documents. A demand that Laporta has not yet complied with. Even going to court did not help FC Barcelona. A lawsuit against the regulations of the league was shot down by the Spanish judiciary.
A tricky contractual clause
But in addition to the player's non-registration, Barça are also facing another slap in the face - ifMundo Deportivois correct. The Spanish newspaper recently claimed that Olmo had a clause in his contract that would allow him to leave Barcelona on a free transfer if he failed to register in the new year.
If this is true, Barcelona would not only lose one of their top performers on the pitch, the club would also be left with the full transfer costs of 60 million, which would make it even more difficult to comply with the 1:1 rule for the next few years.
Happy New Year to the "Culers". They can only hope that Laporta will pull another ace out of his sleeve in the next few days.
