Dani Olmo Can Go Free From Barcelona In January, What's The Problem?

Dani Olmo can go for free in January 2025 (Instagram/@daniolmo).

JAKARTA - Barcelona could lose Dani Olmo for the second half of the season after La Liga said the Catalan club was not in a position to extend the midfielder's registration ahead of Tuesday, December 31, 2024.

The 26-year-old player joined Barcelona in the summer to be precise in August 2024 and was given temporary registration until December 31, 2024. This gave Azulgrana time to comply with the league's Financial Fair Play rules and extend her registration until the summer of 2025.

However, until the deadline for registration on January 2, 2025, Barcelona did not provide sufficient guarantees to La Liga that they could now comply with the regulation.

"As of December 31, 2024, Barcelona has not proposed any alternatives, in accordance with La Liga's economic regulations, which allow player registration starting January 2, 2025," La Liga said in a statement.

Barcelona released a statement saying they had now asked the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) to grant a new license to Olmo and striker Pau Victor, who are also in the same position.

However, with the current registration of Olmo and Victor which expires on December 31, 2024, the RFEF regulation states that players cannot be re-registered with the same team for the second time in the same season.

A source told ESPN that the Blaugrana would provide a more in-depth explanation of their request to the RFEF and seek to clear up the situation on January 3, 2025.

Until then, Olmo and Victor's future is still uncertain.

"We cannot process any licenses without previous approval from La Liga," said a RFEF source.

There is a clause in Olmo's contract that will allow him to leave for free if he is not registered for the second half of the season.

In fact, neither the club nor the midfielder considered that possibility.

However, there have been reports that several English and German teams are monitoring Olmo's situation with the intention of moving in January 2025 or the winter exchange if he is available.

Olmo's agent, Andy Bara, reiterated on Tuesday, December 31, 2024, that the attacker only focused on Barcelona.

"The decision Dani made was to stay at Barcelona because he wanted to play for Barcelona."

"We are not considering other options. Dani wants to play for Barcelona," Bara said.

The Blaugrana have made various choices to force the registration of Olmo and Victor as time continues in recent weeks.

They lost two court hearings to interpretation of La Liga rules, a way that previously paid off when they promoted Gavi to the first team in 2023.

The club then went on to plan to sell the VIP area and seating at Spotify Camp Nou, which is currently being renovated, when reopened.

Sources told ESPN that a deal worth around 100 million euros had been approved, which would allow them to register Olmo and Victor while complying with league financial regulations.

The documents have been sent to La Liga, but a league statement on Tuesday showed that there was a problem with documentation, proof of payment, or that the deal was not accepted.

Meanwhile, Olmo joined RB Leipzig for around 60 million euros in the summer.

However, he missed the first two games of the season without being registered before Barcelona took advantage of regulations that allowed them to temporarily use up to 80 percent of their salaries due to injured players as substitutes.

The achilles injury to Andreas Christensen has provided considerable space within the club's spending limits, which La Liga imposed to register Olmo, but only temporarily.

All Spanish clubs are subject to annual limits set by the league, which are roughly determined by differences between team revenues minus non-sports spending and debt payments.

The number of players on loan by Bacelona has increased to 426 million euros for the season.

However, they still exceed that number, meaning they still have to adhere to certain limits when registering new players.

Olmo, who graduated from Barcelona's academy before leaving the club at the age of 16, has scored six goals in 15 appearances this season.