The saga at Barça continues, with a series of statements exchanged between the Blaugrana and LaLiga. Shortly after 8:15 p.m., the Catalan club released a brief statement confirming its request to the Spanish Football Federation for “a new license for Dani Olmo and Pau Víctor”. Furthermore, in just four lines and without direct reference to LaLiga, they added: “The club wishes to clarify that it has neither requested nor received a moratorium from any other body for the requested registration.” This response came after reports from Catalunya Ràdio and the EFE agency a few minutes earlier. The club did not provide further details on a possible resolution that had been speculated in recent hours, involving a deal for VIP seats at the future Spotify Camp Nou for around 100 million euros, or a possible member guarantee of the Board of Directors. Questioned by this publication, Barça referred to its statement. “A new license is not the same as renewing the previous one, but rather a new one,” they conceded, without offering further details. They insisted that no further information would be communicated by Barça on this subject. An hour later, LaLiga responded with another brief but firm statement: “LaLiga informs that as of today, December 31, FC Barcelona has not presented any alternative which, in compliance with the economic control regulations of LaLiga , would allow a player to be registered from January 2.
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The Blaugrana have been used to walking a financial tightrope for years, appearing to emerge unscathed. This time, however, it appears they have failed. The only two signings made this summer, including Olmo, who arrived for around €60 million, could now be left hanging as the club fail to secure their registrations before the December 31 deadline. Having failed to obtain a precautionary measure through legal channels – as they had previously done with Gavi – they also apparently failed to secure the extraordinary revenues needed to regularize their financial fair play situation before the deadline, according to the LaLiga statement. Thus, from January 1, Dani Olmo could become a free agent, while Pau Víctor would remain at Barça without a formal contract – unless the RFEF declares the opposite and accepts this new move for a “new license”.
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This surreal situation and this apparent defeat for Barça comes after a long day of work in the offices. This weekend, Joan Laporta worked from Dubai to finalize a deal with two investors and returned to Catalonia to continue negotiations. Until Tuesday, the relevant documentation for the deal was still being sent, with LaLiga scrutinizing the documents to ensure that these revenues would materialize and to avoid situations like the failure of Barça Vision, afflicted with recurring payment problems that haunt the club’s financial fair play situation. But why couldn’t they register if Barca secures this income in the coming days, even after exceeding the limit? Article 141, point 5 of the General Regulations of the Spanish Football Federation specifies: “Players whose license is canceled cannot, during the same season, obtain a license with the same club with which they were previously linked.”
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A very serious problem that remains unresolved just a few hours before the deadline – 11:59 p.m. on December 31 – although it has been known since August when Olmo was registered for the third match of the season against Rayo Vallecano, taking advantage of a long-term injury to Andreas Christensen. However, he would only be registered for half of the season until the end of the year. “We didn’t reach the 1:1 formula because we didn’t want to,” president Joan Laporta said in September, saying Olmo had missed the first two games because it wasn’t necessary, given that “there were other solutions” and that the club did not wish to force the contract with Nike. An agreement on which they had relied to regularize their situation, which, despite having been qualified on several occasions as “the best sports clothing contract in the history of football,” did not allow them to reach the ratio 1: 1 as they had hoped. “We should not suffer regarding the recordings of Pau Víctor and Dani Olmo,” Laporta said in October. And not only has there been suffering, but it appears that the recordings will not materialize just yet.
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The first and second attempts to secure the recording were pursued through legal channels, resulting in failures for Barca. The initial case was presented to Commercial Court number 10 on Friday December 27, followed by a further appeal to Court of First Instance number 47 on Monday. The two judges rejected the protective measure requested by Barça for its players until June 30, 2025. The Blaugrana initiated this appeal to invalidate the Financial Fair Play regulations, maintaining that the Delegated Committee did not have the power to establish the Budget Preparation Regulations (NEP), affirming that this responsibility should belong to the LaLiga General Assembly. However, the judge rejected this flimsy argument after hours of waiting for the verdict. LaLiga defended the “full authority of the Delegated Committee”, stating: “For more than 12 years that the NEPs have been in force, this authority has never been challenged by any club, not even FC Barcelona, which also participated to the creation of these regulations,” as the organization led by Javier Tebas said in a statement. Additionally, the club maintained that the interpretation of Article 77 – allowing 80% of a long-term injured player’s salary to be used – had changed. Initially, they were assured that this margin would allow the regularization of the squad, which means the registration of players like Dani Olmo, and potentially signing Wojciech Szczęsny. However, LaLiga has now denied this, saying that only one player can occupy the German goalkeeper’s registration, and that the same criteria of the regulations were applied consistently with other clubs.
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In recent months, Dani Olmo’s performance has dropped significantly. He went from being one of the most efficient players, having scored three goals in his first three games, to scoring just three times in 12 appearances. Olmo took advantage of the Christmas break to travel to the United States and free his mind from the ongoing situation, but upon his return he was still not registered. In fact, early on Tuesday he trained with the group amid uncertainty and anxiety about whether he could still be registered as a Blaugrana player after the New Year’s celebrations. With a sigh, hopes for 2024 remain, with LaLiga failing to validate Barca’s financial capacity, meaning the club cannot celebrate another survival as it mortgages its future, leaving it shrouded in uncertainty.
