At the turn of the year in Spain, twelve grapes are traditionally eaten to the beat of the bells. According to superstition, anyone who can do this without an accident will be blessed with prosperity and luck. According to his social media channels, where he was seen with friends and alongside his partner Laura Abla, Spanish footballer Dani Olmo, 26, was able to enjoy welcoming the New Year. He beamed – although he had to believe that the clock had struck not twelve but thirteen for him. Olmo had every right in the world to choke. Because it is the current climax of an unprecedented farce that at the start of 2025 he will once again be without the right to play for the FC Barcelona first team. And would be free to look for a new club.
A few hours before midnight, Spain’s league association (“La Liga”) sent out a message. It was short and yet awkwardly formulated – and contained explosives. It was reported that FC Barcelona had “not presented a solution to the governing body that would allow it to register a player as of January 2nd in accordance with the league’s regulations on economic control (of clubs)”. This message concerned Olmo and also the striker Pau Víctor, 23, who, however, has not played a major role in Barcelona under coach Hansi Flick and is said to be thinking about leaving anyway.
It’s completely different for Olmo, who welcomed the new year in Barcelona’s club colors in his social media post – with a blue and a red heart (“It’s 2025 time”). Only: hearts don’t count. The league removed Olmo from the Catalans’ official squad list on January 1st.
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Olmo moved to his youth club Barcelona last summer. The Bundesliga club RB Leipzig let the Spaniard go after the European Championship for a fee of around 60 million euros. According to SZ information, Barça has so far transferred the agreed installments to Leipzig on time. But there were problems with Olmo’s registration with the league right from the start. In Spain, the granting of a professional license to a player does not depend on whether a club is liquid enough to meet the transfer fee. But rather the question of whether his expenses are within the personnel cost limit that the league association sets for each club every year based on economic indicators.
New sponsorship contracts, new VIP box tenants and lawsuits in court – all of the club’s attempts have so far failed.
In short, the expenses for replacements and salaries must be in line with the income. That hasn’t been the case at Barça for years. In addition, the club is burdened with debts of more than 1.3 billion euros, not including the loans for the stadium renovation (1.4 billion euros). In Olmo’s case, La Liga initially showed a toughness in the summer, which had already contributed to Lionel Messi’s departure from Barcelona in 2021. Olmo, previously crowned European champions with Spain and Barcelona’s only major purchase in the summer, sat unregistered in the stands for three match days in August. His personal environment, which had advised him against a move to Barcelona because of the club’s financial problems, was fuming. And even though Olmo was ultimately allowed to play in the first half of the season, his entourage subsequently negotiated a clause in the contract that will now play a role. This says: If Barça did not register Olmo properly by the end of December 31st, the player would resign – and the supposedly around eight million euros in net annual income could be paid out until the end of the contract term.
In August, the free transfer of former DFB captain Ilkay Gündogan to Manchester City was initially not enough to allow Olmo to be registered. This was temporarily achieved through an emergency measure (until December 31st) because the club was allowed to exclude its long-injured defender Andreas Christensen from the financial calculations for six months. But in December a new solution had to be found because Christensen was considered fit for work again. Olmo’s position has therefore been filled again – unless the club can counter-finance Olmo’s salary. In fact, Barcelona was recently able to increase its revenue by extending its contract with Nike; Up to 1.7 billion euros are expected to flow here by 2038. But that didn’t help in the Olmo case either. Only the amount currently due from the sponsor was included in the calculation of the salary cap for the current season.
Barça therefore tried a different approach and dragged La Liga to court. In 2023, this brought success in the case of the young player Gavi. At the time, a judge issued an interim injunction for Gavi’s registration because he gave his right to work more weight than the league’s rules. In the case of Olmo, however, the verdict was the opposite – partly because the league had explained in court why Olmo’s registration was being refused.
Barcelona went to the next higher authority – and failed again; among other things, with an attempt to declare the commission responsible for setting the budget rules to be incompetent. The judge found this outrageous. He accused Barça of having once expressly agreed to this responsibility. The oral hearing also revealed some previously unknown details. For example, the club’s additional agreement with Olmo, which proves that the club was aware of the risks involved in registration. It also emerged that Barça had already exceeded the upper limit for personnel costs set for this season by 81 million euros in August – and is now even 153 million euros over the thirst.
Olmo’s love for the club is great – but not great enough for six months in the stands
Barcelona then tried a plan C in a desperate fight against the clock. Club president Joan Laporta sold off part of the VIP stands of the Camp Nou stadium, which is currently under renovation, to “Arab investors” in Dubai. In return for an immediate transfer of 100 million euros, they should be allowed to use the expensive places for 20 years. Only: Shortly after Laporta assured coach Flick that everything would be sorted out, the league again refused to give Olmo the green light. Apparently because the league is not satisfied with declarations of intent from investors, but wants to see concrete payments received. The disastrous state of affairs on New Year’s Day: For a top player who is not allowed to use but has to pay, the agreed transfer payments are still due to Leipzig.
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Before the top game against Bayern, Leipzig attacker Dani Olmo explains his special positional play as a false nine or a real ten – and why he left Barça at the age of 16 to play in Croatia.
However, there could be manageable collateral damage for the Bundesliga club. Because if Olmo can’t play for Barcelona, he won’t be able to earn the bonuses set out in the transfer contract. As was heard in Leipzig, the base fee is said to have been close to 55 million euros; Further payments of up to an additional ten million euros are linked to Barcelona’s successes as a team and to Olmo’s personal successes.
In any case, there is no end to the bickering in sight. The Olmo party was signaled by the club on New Year’s Eve that everything was under control. At the same time, Barcelona publicly brought another player into the game. The club announced in a communiqué that they had chosen the Spanish Football Association RFEF asked for a “new” registration of Olmo and Pau Víctor. That raised new questions. Among other things, because according to the statutes, a player may only be registered once by the same club during a season, but not twice. Apparently Barça wanted to obtain permission for Olmo to play in a cup game and the Super Cup, these competitions are due in January. According to the newspaper As But the association has already waved it off. And issuing game permits for the Primera División is clearly the responsibility of the league association.
The newspaper sport suspected that the club wanted to buy time. Theoretically, the league should be interested in keeping national player Olmo in Spain. But Barcelona’s competitors – above all Atlético Madrid, Bilbao and Sevilla FC – are apparently lobbying in the background against preferential treatment. Is there still a loophole? The money is said to have been transferred from the Arabs – but due to the holidays, it has not yet been confirmed that it was received on time. Olmo’s desire to stay is beyond question. But his love for FC Barcelona isn’t so great that he would spend half a year in the stands for it. And it is clear that Olmo is receiving inquiries from other clubs. The outcome of the farce remains uncertain.
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