Barcelona have seen a third attempt to register Dani Olmo rejected by La Liga, increasing their risk of losing the Spaniard for nothing next month.
The Blaugrana failed for a second time to register Olmo with the league turned down a couple of days ago, as the cash-strapped club did not meet the necessary financial demands.
Barca managed to sign Olmo up for the first half of the season by using the salary space opened up by a long-term injury to Andreas Christensen, but that is no longer a viable solution to the club going over their spending cap.
Instead, Barcelona have brokered a €100m (£82.8m) deal to sell a portion of their Camp Nou VIP boxes to a Middle Eastern fund, and they released a statement on Tuesday evening confirming that they had applied to the governing body for another license to register Olmo and Pau Victor.
"FC Barcelona informs that it has applied for a new license for the players Daniel Olmo and Pau Víctor to the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF)," Barcelona said. "Club would like to deny having requested or receiving any moratorium to any governing body for these inscriptions."
Barcelona at serious risk of losing Olmo for free
© Imago
La Liga are seemingly not satisfied with any evidence that they have received regarding Barca's new £82.8m VIP boxes deal, though, as they confirmed just an hour later that the registrations had been rejected.
"As of today, Barcelona has not presented any alternative that, in compliance with LaLiga's economic control regulations, would allow it to register any player starting next January 2," a statement read.
As a result, Hansi Flick's side are at a serious risk of losing Olmo for nothing in January; even though his contract runs until 2030, it allegedly contains a clause allowing him to leave for nothing if he is not registered.
However, the playmaker's agent has insisted that Olmo wants to remain at Barcelona, telling Fabrizio Romano: "I can announce that the decision made by Dani is to stay at Barcelona. We are not considering any other option or club, Dani Olmo wants to play for Barca and his desire is very clear."
Olmo registered six goals and one assist in 15 games for Barcelona during the first half of the season, although he has failed to directly contribute to a goal in any of his last six La Liga appearances.
Where could Olmo go after Barcelona registration fail?
© Imago
While Olmo's agent remains defiant and has ruled out the possibility of a swift exit from Camp Nou, if Barcelona just cannot find a way to comply with La Liga regulations, he may have no other choice if he actually wants to play domestic football.
In the prime of his career at 26 years old and with plenty of credit in the bank from his exceptional Euro 2024 displays, Olmo is thought to be on the radar of Manchester United, Manchester City and Arsenal.
The Red Devils will only be able to afford free signings and loan deals in January, Ruben Amorim has conceded, while both Man City and Arsenal could do with an extra attacking option in the hopes of reining Liverpool in.
Amid the Olmo registration saga, Barcelona occupy third place in the La Liga table and return to action on Saturday evening, taking on Barbastro in the Copa del Rey last 32.
Ben Knapton
