Laporta’s Barcelona once again pushed the limit to the limit. At the limit of the legal term and the limit of making a horrible fool of the club’s credibility. The situation was so extreme that four hours before the deadline, the Blaugrana club made a move against the clock to avoid losing Dani Olmo and Pau Víctor for the remainder of the season.
Seeing that LaLiga was asking for payment guarantees from the investors who are going to buy a part of the VIP seats at the Spotify Camp Nou, Barça looked for a new trick by introducing a third actor to the equation. The current strategy consists of the club having asked the Spanish Federation for new licenses for Olmo and Víctor, the two summer signings, whom it was only able to register in August thanks to Christensen’s long-term injury and whose license expired on the 31st. of December.
There is no free way
LaLiga wanted payment guarantees for VIP seats and remember that this license will need your authorization
If the RFEF accepts Barcelona’s demand, point 5 of article 141 of the General Regulations of the RFEF would be deactivated, by which the same player cannot be registered twice by the same club during a season.
“Players whose license is canceled will not be able, during the course of the same season, to obtain a license in the same team of the club to which they were already linked,” says the wording of the rule.
In that sense, Barça would gain time to present complementary documentation that LaLiga requires to approve the agreement with the Dubai investors for the VIP seats in the future stadium. And Olmo and Pau Víctor, who are still on the wire, would still have options to continue wearing Blaugrana.
Four hours before the turn of the year
As the situation was not progressing, the Blaugrana club sought to introduce a new actor in the film: the Federation
However, at the headquarters of the employers’ association headed by Javier Tebas, they remember that the license would not be valid without the authorization of LaLiga. That is to say, the mess, far from being resolved on New Year’s Eve, will continue in suspense for a few days.
The carillon, the quarters and the twelve chimes of the Puerta del Sol clock approached like a sword of Damocles on the Barcelona board, which needed to register Dani Olmo and Pau Víctor before the turn of the year if it wanted to have them in the second part of the season. To validate the sale of a portion of the VIP seats at the Spotify Camp Nou for 100 million, LaLiga wanted guarantees so that the case of non-payment by Barça Studios would not be repeated, which is why it asked the Blaugrana club for proof of income.
In addition, Goldman Sachs also had to give its approval as a major investor in Spotify Camp Nou since that item was one of those that had to return the funding for Spotify Camp Nou. They were about to give Barça the grapes and looked for an alternative solution with the Federation.
A loophole
With the maneuver, Barça tries to deactivate point 5 of article 141 on the registration of a player twice for the same team
The most pressing case was that of Olmo since the Egarense player, the star signing of the summer, was free if he did not obtain the license. Flick’s team could be decapitalized with the loss of a footballer for whom 55 million were paid and who has only played 15 games.
This stress is not new for the president, but a way of doing things since he took office in 2021. Laporta lives on the edge. This time, furthermore, he has no choice because all his letters have become insufficient or sterile. The main one was the 150 million renewal bonus for Nike’s contract. LaLiga understood that the amount should be prorated over the years of the contract. Nor have the precautionary measures of registration been granted because the lawsuit filed against commercial court number 10 to defend the right of footballers to play did not go well, nor the one he presented in court number 47 of first instance to overthrow the financial regulations on the grounds that that the competition should not fall on the delegated commission of LaLiga but on the assembly of the 42 clubs.
The great danger
The club was exposed to the ridicule of having to release a player for whom it paid 55 million after playing 15 games
Anticipating this outcome, the president accelerated the sale of VIP seats on a lightning trip to the Persian Gulf. But that route was pending more documentation, including a transfer that did not arrive on time.
Olmo, for his part, trained yesterday under the orders of Hansi Flick with the doubt as to whether it would be his last training session with the Barça badge. During the holidays, the footballer traveled to the United States and followed the news about his registration with some nervousness. The deadline ended yesterday but Olmo is still on the wire.
#Dani #Olmo #wire
