Dani Olmo has been able to be registered in LaLiga despite the fact that Barcelona did not have sufficient salary space. And he will be able to do so thanks to the injury of the Danish Andreas Christensen. That is to say: One will play with the money that the other “frees up” by being on sick leave. So far, it’s all easy, isn’t it? It’s been done a thousand times, by many clubs: a long-term injured player, more than four months, can leave his place for another player to be registered. Without going any further, Barcelona itself registered Iñigo Martínez for Araujo, or last season after Gavi’s injury, when Vitor Roque came on.
The difficult part to understand comes now: say Christensen (for whatever reason) recovered before those four months… I could play with Barcelona despite the fact that Olmo is doing so within the salary limit that corresponded to his salary. The two may coincide on the pitch before December 31, if the Danish centre-back miraculously recovers from his timely illness.
It’s difficult, because the last journey of League is the December 22 and it would further advance that miraculous recovery that Barcelona doctors have estimated at four months and, with that documentation and with tests carried out, An independent medical commission from LaLiga has agreed to consider to Christensen as long-term sick leave.
Everything is born from the Article 77 of the LaLiga economic control regulations, which are the ones that regulate long-term injuries. During the last season, a total of eight clubs different already benefited from these changeseven if they do not appear on the web.
What does Article 77 do? Well, the injured player can be replaced, whatever the situation of his financial Fair Play. Try prevent clubs from losing competitiveness due to force majeurean injury. The other option would be: “if a player gets injured… you put up with it.” But the clubsobviously, they prefer to have other mechanisms to solve that, and That’s how they vote in the regulations so that the championship does not lose quality.
FIFA changed it three seasons ago
Until three years agoif you suffered a long-term injury, Your club could unregister you because FIFA allowed you to add or remove him from your squad at any time.It didn’t matter whether the transfer market was open or not. This changed: Registrations and deregistrations are only allowed during the summer and winter windows.
So what was done before? If someone got injured, you would unsubscribe them and bring someone else in. In this way, the injured player would enjoy a pass to enroll him at any time during his recovery, even outside of enrollment periods. And what do they do now? Well, Since FIFA changed this rule (and the RFEF adopted it, of course), they do not deregister it now.: The injured player remains in the squad in case he recovers, so as not to have to wait for the next window market so you can play.
In the face of these amendments, LaLiga opted to protect article 77, in the sense that a club that has a player injured (for at least 4 months) has the right to replace him with another and changed the treatment at Fair Play level: they looked for a a system that would make this right of the club compatible, but that would take the least possible advantage in terms of economic control (which is what one might think Barcelona is abusing).
And how do they do it? Well, the club that benefits from this “suffers” it in his salary cap for the following season. That is to say: Barcelona at its squad limit this season It will weigh on him “extra” money that was paid to Vitor Roque when he came in due to Gavi’s injury, for example. And Next year they will regret what Dani Olmo earns between now and December 31st. You will have less fair play for your squad… but in 25-26. That is to say: LaLiga forces Barcelona to recover the money it uses on Dani Olmo during this season. If they don’t… well, that will be subtracted from the squad limit for next season. It’s that easy?
That is to say: they adapt the change in FIFA regulations from three years ago to prevent clubs from taking too much advantage of it, adapting article 77 even though they know that what some (like Barcelona) are going to use is fair play in subsequent seasons. But it will not be left “in limbo”. That money, sooner or later, will have to be justified and will count towards your financial control..
Other examples of “borrowed” fair play
There are other situations where clubs can use fair play “on account” of other seasons. For example, in the coach dismissalsin the renewals of young talents who are exploding and that the club wants to retainbut does not have a salary cap to do so, in the stadium renovations and in doping sanctions.
These are cases in which the economic control rule, for better or worse, puts the amount of fair play for that club, at that specific time, before resolving these situations. In no case would it be free for them: they would have to return it in the following season, but with those urgent matters resolved.
And, furthermore, in any case, These aids would always be limited in their amount.: never more than 80% of the cost of the long-term injured player in article 77, if it is a dismissal from the coaching staff never more than 4% of the total cost of the club’s squad (this was also used by Barcelona to sign Xavi from Qatar), if it is for stadium renovations never more than 5% of the club’s turnover… In other words, they are “fair play” loans, but they are quite controlled.
This is, therefore, the explanation for the possibility that Dani Olmo and Andreas Christensen could coincide on the field despite the fact that one is registered thanks to the absence of the other. Barça will “pay” this extra cost in its sports squad limit in the following season, if it cannot justify it during the current one. And this (among other resources) is how Laporta’s board has been saving face season after season for the last three. You may agree with the rule, or not, but in 23-24 eight clubs already took advantage of this renewed article 77. The treatment for all clubs is the same, there is nothing that LaLiga allows only to BarcelonaAnother thing is that it is the Blaugrana who, almost always, take the norm to the limit and that is why this article 77 is known.
On the other hand, the work of the Barcelona club getting rid of Dest, Gündogan, Lenglet, Julián Araujo, Faye, Guiu… has given them almost 30 million euros in salesThey have received another 25 million from Aramark and, despite this, they have only been able to register thanks to the injuries of Araujo and Christensen. It is not being easy for them either. And all because of the failed sale of Barça Studios, which is a move that will weigh on the accounts of the culés for a long time to come.
