Efforts by the Spanish football club giant, Barcelona, to register Dani Olmo and Pau Victor for the second-half of the 2024-2025 season have suffered a major setback after a Commercial Court 10 dismissed its suit requesting that the league management grant the request on the player’s registration.
The judge did not grant the precautionary measure sought by the club, meaning both registrations are still due to expire at the end of the year as things stand.
With the judgement on Friday, both players would be allowed to leave the club on a free transfer if they are not re-registered for the second half of the season.
In response, Barcelona are expected to present a new lawsuit against La Liga in a last-ditch attempt to have their summer signing available for the second-half of the season.
It is expected that they will present the argument they will put forward is that the registration rules are invalid because they are regulated by a body that they consider incompetent.
Olmo was a £50million signing from Red Bull Leipzig in the summer but could only be registered on a temporary arrangement until the end of the calendar year owing to LaLiga’s ongoing financial constraints on Barcelona.
It means Olmo can leave as a free agent if Spain’s football federation continue to block his registration for the second part of the season as they push for the Catalan giants to make more cuts, find more revenue and comply with their financial guidelines.
As gathered, to ease its financial burden, the club has prepared a contract for the sale of VIP seats inside the stadium to boost resources at its disposal.
The LaLiga giants hope that, in principle, the package was going to be sold for about £166miliion (€200m) – in a desperate bid to raise funds and register Olmo and Victor.
With time ticking, the situation has alerted leading Premier League clubs such as Manchester City, United and Arsenal, who have taken a keen interest in whether a player so instrumental in Spain’s Euro 2024 triumph could be available for nothing next month.
Olmo’s priority has always been to stay with Barcelona, his boyhood club, but the drawn out process is understood to have forced his agent Andy Bara to begin exploring potential moves for the 26-year old who is recognised as one of the best attacking midfielders in Europe.
Croatian Bara, 42, is owner of Niagara Sports Company, one of the biggest agencies in the world. A former centre back, he has forged a reputation as a leading agent representing Olmo, Spain captain Alvaro Morata and other figures such as Lovro Majer and previously Marcelo Brozovic.
Bara also played a role in Manchester City’s £77m deal to land Josko Gvardiol from Red Bull Leipzig in 2023.
During the week, it was learnt that Bara flew to Manchester by private jet ahead of City’s game with Everton and was due to be attending the game.
