LaLiga deny Barcelona’s Dani Olmo, Pau Víctor Re-Registration

LaLiga and the Royal Spanish Football Federation [RFEF] have rejected Barcelona’s request to re-register Dani Olmo and Pau Víctor for the second half of the season, a joint statement confirmed on Saturday.

As things stand, neither Olmo, a €60 million ($62m) summer signing from RB Leipzig, nor Víctor will be able to play for Barça again until after the summer, with both players omitted from the squad for Saturday’s Copa del Rey trip to fourth-tier Barbastro.

However, a source told ESPN Barça plan to fight the decision in court after the club missed a Dec. 31 deadline to prove they were compliant with LaLiga’s financial fair play (FFP) regulations.

LaLiga say Barça finally provided the necessary documentation to have their spending limit for the season extended on Friday, but it came too late for Olmo and Víctor, who had their registrations cancelled on Wednesday.

“A commission of representatives from LaLiga and the RFEF met to address Barça’s request for federative licences for [Olmo and Víctor],” a statement said.

“Following the fulfilment of LaLiga’s FFP requirements by Barcelona on Jan. 3, with the club having completed the relevant documentation, LaLiga has decided to extend their spending cap from the aforementioned date.

“However, the commission agrees not to grant the licenses requested for the players [Olmo and Víctor] in accordance with the interpretation of articles 130.2 and 141.5 of the RFEF’s general regulations that prevent a player whose license is cancelled from, during the course of the same season, obtaining a license at the same club to which they were already linked.”

Olmo and Víctor both signed for Barça permanently last summer but were only registered temporarily at the end of August.

Barça took advantage of a rule that allows clubs to use up to 80% of the salary due to an injured player — in this case Andreas Christensen — to register the duo until the end of 2024.

That gave the Catalan club four months to prove to LaLiga they were compliant with the league’s FFP rules and, therefore, extend Olmo and Víctor’s registrations until the end of the season.

After losing two court hearings against the interpretations of LaLiga’s regulations, Barça agreed a deal to sell VIP boxes at Spotify Camp Nou, which is currently being redeveloped, for around €100m.

However, they were unable to prove to LaLiga that the deal had been closed and provide proof of funds until Jan. 3, according to the league, with Olmo and Víctor already unregistered by that point.

Sources have told ESPN that Barça will take the case as far and high as they can in a bid to have the players available for the second half of the campaign.

Sources close to the players, meanwhile, have said they are extremely disappointed but still harbour hopes of staying at the club despite having clauses in their deals that would allow them to leave for free in the event they are not registered.

Neither player plans to execute that clause, the sources added, but the options to leave on a short-term basis are not straight forward, either.

Barça cannot loan them out for six months as they do not have their federative licences, while rescinding their contracts to allow them to sign a deal elsewhere before re-signing them in the summer also poses plenty of complications.

Olmo has made 15 appearances since re-joining Barça, who he left for Dinamo Zagreb as a 16-year-old, and scored six goals, while Víctor has scored twice in 17 outings, although he has started just one of those games.

Agency Report