Barcelona midfielder left in limbo with exit looming after Spanish court rejects player’s registration.
Published On 27 Dec 2024
A Spanish court has rejected Barcelona’s request to register Dani Olmo beyond the year’s end, potentially pushing the star closer to leaving the Catalan giants for free.
The Spain playmaker, who has six goals in 15 appearances for the Bernabeu-based club this season, signed from Bundesliga club RB Leipzig last summer for a reported $62.5m, but La Liga rules limiting spending on wages and transfers complicated his registration.
Barcelona, mired in debt, registered the 26-year-old to December 31 with 80 percent of injured defender Andreas Christensen’s pay thanks to an exception allowing clubs to replace long-term absentees.
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 dated Monday that it had rejected the club’s 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.
