Barça drives on the shoulder, by Santiago Segurola

Dani Olmo is one of the best footballers in the world, undoubtedly decisive in the consolidation of Barça, whose future is more than assured with its collection of young stars. It is difficult to go wrong with this team, which is going through a crisis of results after its dizzying rise in the League, an idea of ​​what Barça can achieve in an increasingly near future, if the club’s inability to resolve does not interfere with its dynamics. aesthetically and effectively problems like the one now posed by Dani Olmo’s contract. In the current conditions, which Barça intends to reverse between emergencies, sweat and levers, Olmo would not be able to play the rest of the season.

This extremely young Barça desperately needs Dani Olmo and Raphinha to climb the lost positions in European football. Olmo has not reached the zenith of his career – he is 26 years old – but he has seen the world, he is more than seasoned in major competitions and is a midfielder as coveted as a diamond. It doesn’t take a scientist to identify Olmo as one of the most refined representatives of the Barça school. He is versatile, cunning, powerful, subtle, generous and competitive. He doesn’t lack a goal, too. Goals from mid-range, as an area sniffer, as a header when necessary. He is a great player without nonsense.

Olmo’s uncertain contractual situation may have caused its blackout

Barça nailed their shot into the top corner in the summer market. He signed the ideal player for 60 million euros to join this newest edition of the team. If Olmo offered no doubt, Barça has insisted on sowing them. In two days we will know if Dani Olmo’s season at Barça ends on Tuesday, the last day of 2024, the victim of a delirious process that has not guaranteed him the professional security that any footballer seeks, let alone a figure of his caliber.

Joan Laporta is desperately looking for a legal solution or economic agreement that will allow Olmo to compete in all competitions in 2025. A judge has rejected Barça’s claim and everything indicates that the money will come from the sale of the VIP boxes at the new Camp Nou to an investment group from the Persian Gulf, with an estimated value of 100 million euros. They are typical emergency sales that mean a notable advantage for the buyer. In the rush, grandmother’s jewelry sells for considerably more money than expected.

Nico Williams, Barça’s target after the Euro Cup, will breathe a sigh of relief after the vicissitudes of the Olmo case, a symptom of the real state of the club, unable until now to balance its signings without sending them to a purgatory of tensions, uncertainties and desperate solutions. In the relentless commercial model of football, cases like Olmo’s weaken the image of the institution,

Dani Olmo signed and did not play in the first two games of the League. He has played because Christensen’s long injury – more than four months out – opened the legal window for Barça to register his card. Five months later, his near future remains hanging by a thread. If the negotiations are not rounded off, Olmo will be in a position on Wednesday, the first day of 2025, to pick up the bag and look for a new destination. It wouldn’t be just any destination, of course. And Barça would have to comply with RB Leipzig, for a signing valued at 60 million euros.

Due to the category of the footballer, the imbroglio acquires the magnitude that the cases of João Félix, Cancelo, Koundé did not reach in their time, or Iñigo Martínez and Casadó, two essential players now and totally expendable in August, one general captain of the defense, the other converted into a midfield masterpiece. They were not registered. They couldn’t play. They were more outside than inside. That time, Araújo’s long injury was the key to his entry, in the middle of a process that has terrible consequences for the club’s image and for the emotional stability of the players. Perhaps for that reason, there has been a noticeable Olmo blackout in the last few games.