Barcelona will take La Liga to court once again after the league ruled that Dani Olmo and Pau Víctor cannot register until the summer due to Barcelona not having enough space under La Liga’s salary cap after they expired their injury exemptions. Both players are not in Barcelona’s squad because they face Barbastro in the Copa del Rey but Barcelona will take this matter to the Higher Sports Council (CSD) to obtain a precautionary measure to register both players via court order.
After meeting the Monitoring Commission of the RFEF-LaLiga Coordination Agreement, it determined that as of January 3 the duo could not be registered.
“The Monitoring Commission agrees not to grant the prior visa or the definitive license requested by FC Barcelona to the players Mr. Daniel Olmo Carvajal and Mr. Pau Víctor Delgado in accordance with the literal interpretation of articles 130.2 and 141.5 of the General Regulations of the RFEF that prevent a player whose license is canceled from obtaining, during the course of the same season, a license in the same club to which he was already linked,” the committee stated in a statement.
Through an appeal, there is a way out for Barcelona, as effectively the two players are now free agents unless they re-register. Olmo reportedly has a clause in his contract that could allow him to leave for free if he is not registered, although it has also been reported that he will not seek to exercise that clause as he begins to commit to Barcelona. Only time will tell if this will be resolved.
Here’s what you should know:
How was Olmo registered?
Olmo, a former Barcelona youth player, arrived at Barcelona during the summer from RB Leipzig, while Víctor arrived from Barcelona B. To complete those registrations during the summer, Barcelona used a rule to use 80% of the salary due to an injured player to record the duo but that only lasted until the end of the calendar year. Andreas Christensen’s salary was used for this.
Olmo was effective on the pitch for Barcelona, appearing in 15 matches in all competitions, scoring six goals and assisting one more as Barcelona put in impressive performances under new manager Hansi Flick. Victor has also scored two goals, assisting one more as a main substitute for Robert Lewandowski.
Why was the registration not extended?
The duo’s registration was to give Barcelona time to comply with the league’s financial fair play rules and then extend their registration until the end of the season. Due to delays in renovations to the Sporify Camp Nou and the need to spend more money to bring in Wojciech Szczesny when Marc Andre ter Stegen was injured, he left Barcelona to look for other options.
They reached a deal to sell VIP boxes at Spotify Camp Nou, but were unable to prove they had the funds from that deal to register the duo, which now leads to the current appeal. They have already attended two court hearings on the interpretation of the rules, but they could continue to be challenged by Barcelona.
They are no strangers to this
In the past, Barcelona has mitigated situations like this by selling media rights and signing a stadium naming rights deal with Spotify, but since La Liga implemented the spending limit, Barcelona has faced this issue. Íñigo Martínez was also registered due to these rules, but unlike Víctor and Olmo, his registration is still fine in the future. Barcelona signed a commercial agreement with Nike, but will still need additional help to overcome this problem.
What’s next?
Due to league rules that state that a club cannot re-register a player in the same season in which their registration was cancelled, Barcelona will have to get around that, which is where a CSD hearing will be necessary. Barcelona plans to find a way to do this and having players leave on free transfers is not a simple process, which may limit those interested. After losing two appeals to register the duo, it remains to be seen whether a third will be successful.
Barcelona are currently third in La Liga behind Real Madrid and Atlético de Madrid with 38 points. Having played one more game than Atlético Madrid, their gap could grow beyond five points in the league in their next league match, a trip to Getafe on January 18.
