Barça’s Dani Olmo registration rejected in court

Barcelona risk having Dani Olmo unavailable for the second half of the season after a court rejected the club’s lawsuit to extend the forward’s registration beyond Dec. 31.

Olmo, a €57 million ($59.5m) summer signing from RB Leipzig, was granted a temporary registration with LaLiga until the end of the year to cover a long-term injury suffered by Andreas Christensen.

Barça were seeking a court order to prolong the pair’s registrations until the end of the season, arguing at a hearing on Monday that a failure to do so would go against workers’ rights in Spain.

The Catalan club had presented a similar case to register midfielder Gavi with the first team in 2023.

On that occasion they won, so there is some surprise Friday’s ruling has not gone in their favour.

LaLiga on Friday issued a statement saying it welcomed the court decision.

“LaLiga has today learned of the ruling… rejecting the request for the provisional registration of Dani Olmo until June 30, 2025, on the grounds that none of the necessary conditions for the adoption of an interim measure have been met,” it said.

Barça’s LaLiga-imposed annual spending cap is fixed at €426 million for the season.

They remain in breach of that limit and, as a consequence, face certain restrictions when it comes to registering new additions.

LaLiga’s rules only allow them to spend a percentage of anything they raise in transfer fees or save in wages, while they can also create more room within their cap by raising revenue.

The approval from members of a new multi-year deal with kit supplier Nike last week helps in that sense, but sources told ESPN it will not be enough to push through Olmo’s registration.

That registration is due to expire next week and, with Barça still in excess of their annual spending limit set by the league, sources have told ESPN the club are now working on two possible scenarios to prolong it.

The first involves the presale of VIP seats at Spotify Camp Nou, which is being redeveloped, and the second is for a board member to put up a personal guarantee to enable the registration, a route was previously taken to ensure Jules Koundé’s registration in 2022 and João Félix and João Cancelo’s in 2023.

Striker Pau Víctor, signed from Girona last July, is also in the same position as Olmo.

Mundo Deportivo have previously reported that if the registration is not processed, Olmo could leave for free, although sources close to the club and the player have played down that possibility.

Barça president Joan Laporta has expressed confidence the Olmo and Victor’s registrations will both be extended, but the club now face a race against time to ensure that is the case.

Laporta has already said that, beyond the court route, Barça are also pursuing other avenues to prolong the registrations beyond Dec. 31.