This transaction allows them to meet Financial Fair Play regulations and finally extend Dani Olmo's registration.
With the registration deadline looming in just three days, Barcelona faced the possibility of Olmo departing as a free agent merely six months after his €55 million (£45.6 million) transfer. Club president Joan Laporta executed a sale option on Saturday, anticipating the initial payment before December 31st.
This deal follows a court's rejection of Barcelona's lawsuit seeking to extend Olmo's registration beyond the year's end. Barcelona argued that denying the extension would violate the player's worker rights and that the league's economic commission lacked the authority to impose limitations.
However, Ignacio Fernández de Senespleda, a presiding judge at the city's commercial court who had previously granted a similar request for midfielder Gavi in 2023, dismissed their case. This left Barça scrambling to comply with La Liga's Financial Fair Play rules and prevent Olmo's departure.
After signing the Euro 2024 star from RB Leipzig, Barcelona couldn't register him until week three of the season. They utilized Article 77 of league rules, permitting clubs to temporarily allocate up to 80% of an injured player's salary to another player.
Andreas Christensen's Achilles injury provided the necessary margin to register Olmo, but only until the end of the year. This gave Barcelona a limited window to find solutions and achieve a "1:1" balance between expenditures and income, enabling them to spend a euro for every euro earned.
A new seven-year kit deal with Nike was considered crucial, and Barcelona also believed they could use the salary freed up by Marc-André ter Stegen's serious knee injury for Olmo.
However, the league determined that despite receiving the signing bonus from Nike, Barça hadn't met their financial targets. They also judged that Ter Stegen's injury had already been used to register Wojciech Szczesny, brought out of retirement on an emergency deal. The judge concurred with this interpretation.
Unlike in 2023, La Liga's lawyers attended court on December 23rd to present their case, prompted by other clubs questioning Barcelona's approach. "La Liga has implemented rules for budgetary balance, utilizing its legal authority," the league stated, welcoming the decision concluding that "none of the necessary conditions for a temporary measure have been met." They emphasized that the rules are "applied uniformly to all clubs."
The ruling placed Olmo and striker Pau Víctor at risk of unavailability from January 1st. The Spanish international's contract includes a clause allowing him to leave if the club fails to register him. Barça filed another appeal, scheduled for a different court on December 30th, unless the VIP seating sale is finalized.
Barcelona is exceeding the €426 million salary limit for the 2024-25 season, restricting their player registration abilities. Olmo's salary is just over €21 million annually.
The league clarified that Article 77 aims to "prevent a serious injury from hindering a team's competitiveness, not to register players whose salaries exceed the limit, which is Barcelona's intention."
Olmo has played 15 games for Barça this season, scoring six goals. The 26-year-old was recently seen in Milwaukee visiting basketball player Damian Lillard, with whom he shares a wrist-tapping celebration.
