Barcelona could lose their £51million summer signing for free in January, it has emerged.
The club continue to have financial issues off the field and are in a race against time to raise funds or risk losing the midfield star for nothing when the winter window opens.
Dani Olmo, who was one of the stars of Spain’s Euro 2024 winning campaign in the summer, joined Barca from German side RB Leipzig on a six-year deal, though had issues being registered at the time.
The Catalans announced a partnership with the club’s hospitality provider Aramark, a deal that reportedly brought in around £34m. However, it they needed to raise more, and eventually did so through their partnership with Nike.
It has been reported, however, by Mundo Deportivo, that the 26-year-old is only registered for the first half of the season, and his side once again have a fight on their hands to secure his services for the second half.
In total, he has played 12 times for his new side this season, scoring six goals and helping them to the top of the LaLiga table.
Barcelona risk losing their £51million summer signing for free in the January transfer window
Dani Olmo joined the club in the summer but is only registered to play half of the season
Barcelona (pictured: president Joan Laporta) continue to have financial issues off-the-field
It was reported at the start of the season that Barca accepted a six-month registration for Olmo as a compromise, with the player himself agreeing to one year worth of registration when he joined.
The club were thought to have used the salary space of Andreas Christensen, who has been struggling with injury issues around his achilles tendon.
President Joan Laporta is reported to have claimed that there will be no issues for the club in terms of registering the player, but this is not the first time Barcelona have been in the situation.
In the summer of 2022, the club raised over £700m by pilling ‘levers’, which involved selling stakes in the club’s future business.
That came just a year after club legend and footballing icon Lionel Messi left due to his salary not fitting in with the league’s new salary cap.
In July 2023, meanwhile, it was reported that Barcelona were set to pull their last economic lever by selling another stake in Barca Studios.
It is reported that there could be a condition in Olmo’s contract with the club that allows him to leave for free if he is not registered for the second half of the campaign.
It is, however, also believed that the player himself has full faith in the club to resolve the issue and is focused on on-field matters rather than off-field issues.
Barcelona are looking at selling VIP box rights for the next 20 years in packages to raise more money. It is, though, suggested that more means will have to be met to reach the required fee.
