A free transfer threatens
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This article was first published on December 27th, 2024 and was last updated on December 30th, 2024 at 7 p.m.
As things stand, FC Barcelona will have to do without their top transfer Dani Olmo (26) and Pau Víctor (23) in the league from January 1, 2025. The reason for this is that the registrations of both professionals are only valid until the end of the year and have not yet been able to be extended due to Barça’s financial difficulties. On Friday, a first attempt in court to be able to register the duo for the entire LaLiga season failed. The club must have registered the players by December 31st. You probably still have an emergency plan up your sleeve.
Update December 30th: According to consistent reports, Barça also failed on Monday in another attempt to sue LaLiga and get players registered. However, a court dismissed the lawsuit, which is why the club now relies on income from the sale of VIP seats. This is expected to generate a three-digit million sum.
On the weekend the newspapers had “Marca” and “Mundo Sports“ reports that Barça could raise enough money for registration through a long-term allocation of VIP seats in the stadium. President Joan Laporta signed a contract for some of the seats in Dubai on Saturday. For this reason, those responsible decided not to take part in the Globe Soccer Awards, where youngster Lamine Yamal (17) was honored. On Sunday, Laporta is traveling back to Spain with the hope of being able to sell the rest of the contingent and earn a total of 100 million euros. The publications assume that the deal will be completed on time. The ex-Leipziger Olmo cost FCB 55 million euros; the highest sum paid since the Raphinha transfer in July 2022.
On Friday, the number ten commercial court in Barcelona rejected an interim injunction against LaLiga. Barça’s plan was to extend registrations with the help of the injury-related absence of Marc-André ter Stegen (32; patellar tendon rupture). According to league regulations, a club is allowed to use a large portion of a long-term injured player’s salary – up to 80 percent – to report another player. For this reason, among other things, Barça was only able to register Olmo for league play last summer after a delay. But this time the plan failed.
Now the club is running out of time because a player can only be registered with the LFP league association once per season. Olmo and Vìctor would be extended until December 31st, after which things would look different. In the case of Olmo, there is also the fact that he should have a clause in his contract, which is valid until 2030, which allows him to move on a free transfer from January 1st if he is not registered by then – then he could freely choose his new club. It also seems conceivable that the European champion could be awarded until the end of the season.
Víctor is only a supplementary player, while Olmo is used more often and contributed six goals and one assist in 15 appearances. When he moved from RB Leipzig to Barça, he cost 55 million euros. Its market value is currently estimated at 60 million euros. Víctor’s balance is 5 million euros.