Just when you think Barcelona is back on track, a timely reminder of its laughable financial situation appears.
After a tumultuous 2023/24 campaign that saw Xavi Hernández leave afterwards, Hansi Flick has tried to bring stability and some good football back to Catalonia. The start to the German’s tenure has been impressive, but there are reasons to believe that the second half of 2024/25 will be trickier than the opening act.
Barça’s ability to kick the can down the road for a short-term respite rears its ugly head again in the case of Dani Olmo. Signed in the summer from RB Leipzig, the club risk losing one of Flick’s most reliable lieutenants for free in January. transfer window
Here’s why.
Barcelona they have been in a perpetual battle to sign players since Joan Laporta returned as president in 2021. However, while the situation with Olmo is not necessarily new, it is unique.
Barça’s problems when signing up new players come down to the League’s salary cap. Each team in the division has a salary cap based on the amount of revenue they generate, and Barcelona have been operating above their cap for some time.
The club were forced to cut wages and increase revenue streams to sign Olmo, who joined Barca for £50m on a six-year deal. They did so thanks to the long-term injury suffered by Andreas Christensen at the end of August. The League allow clubs to use 80% of any injured player’s salary to sign up another player. Although 80% of Christensen’s salary was not enough to cover Olmo’s long-term contract, La Liga created a new salary cap rule that allowed Barca to sign the Spaniard after missing out on both first games of the season.
However, this new rule only allowed the club to register Olmo for the first half of the 2024/25 season. This four-month subsidy expires on December 31, 2024, and Barça are scrambling to find a solution before the deadline.
The clock is ticking, but Barcelona remain hopeful of signing Olmo in time for the rest of the season. The club’s new sponsorship deal with Nike is expected to provide much-needed revenue immediately, but Barca have also explored the possibility of selling VIP boxes in advance for the glitzy Camp Nou and could also extract more financial leverage by touring once more at Barca Studios.
Board members could also sign risky bank guarantees to register Olmo. The total amount they need to meet the League’s salary cap is 60 million euros. Laporta and others opted for bank guarantees when signing up Joao Cancelo, Joao Felix and Jules Kounde.
There is also a legal route to take. Barcelona has submitted a complaint to the commercial court of the city to request that Olmo, as well as Pau Víctor, be registered, as they allege that the players are denied the right to work. The decision on the case will be revealed on December 27, just four days before the deadline.
Far from an ideal situation, but sports director Deco expressed his confidence in Olmo’s record in front of Barça’s 3-2 win at Borussia Dortmund Champions League: “I’m sure we’ll be able to register Dani Olmo,” he said.
“The club is working on it. Internal discussions are taking place and I can’t say much more here publicly, but we will sort it out.”
Olmo is in a tough spot but his camp are confident the situation will be resolved and the player will be listed for the second half of the season. However, should the worst-case scenario occur, the Catalan media have said that Olmo has a clause in his contract that will allow him to leave Barcelona for free in the January transfer window.
So there is a possibility that Olmo will play his last game for the club when they face Atletico Madrid this Saturday.
The Spaniard was out for a month with a muscle injury in the autumn but has played 14 times for his new club in all competitions, scoring seven goals. He is Flick’s preferred choice for the number 10 role in the German’s 4-2-3-1 and his absence will no doubt be harsh if he cannot be brought in for the second half of the season.
Olmo was signed to replace Ilkay Gundogan after he returned Manchester Citybut his arrival has so far slowed down the previous Fermín López, who was strong in the first half of 2024 for both club and country. He is a natural replacement for Olmo, but we could also see Pedri playing a more advanced role with Gavi or Frenkie de Jong gaining more minutes at center back.
