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Barcelona will take La Liga to court again after the league ruled that Dani Olmo and Pau Victor cannot be registered until the summer because Barcelona do not have enough space under the La Liga salary cap following the expiry of their injury waivers. Both players are not part of the squad for Barcelona as they face Barbastro in the Copa Del Rey, but Barcelona will refer this matter to the Higher Sports Council (CSD) to obtain a precautionary measure to ban both players via a court order to register.
After the RFEF-LaLiga Coordination Agreement Monitoring Committee met, it was determined that the duo could no longer be registered as of January 3.
“The Monitoring Committee agrees not to grant the prior visa or final license requested by FC Barcelona to the players Mr. Daniel Olmo Carvajal and Mr. Pau Víctor Delgado in accordance with the literal interpretation of Articles 130.2 and 141.5 of the General Regulations of the RFEF which prevent a player whose license is withdrawn from obtaining, during the same season, a license in the same club team to which he was already associated”, the committee said said in a statement.
There is a way out for Barcelona through an appeal, as the two players are now free agents unless they are re-registered. Olmo reportedly has a clause in his contract that will allow him to leave for free if he is not registered, although it has also been reported that he will not exercise that clause as he commits himself to Barcelona. Only time will tell if this will be resolved.
Here’s what you need to know:
How was Olmo registered?
Olmo, a former Barcelona academy player, joined Barcelona this summer from RB Leipzig, while Victor was added from Barcelona B. To complete these registrations during the summer, Barcelona used a rule to pay 80% of the salary paid to an injured player was owed to use the duo but that only lasted until the end of the calendar year. Andreas Christensen’s salary was used to make this possible.
Olmo was effective when on the pitch for Barcelona, appearing in 15 matches in all competitions, scoring six goals and assisting another as Barcelona put in impressive performances under new manager Hansi Flick. Victor has also scored two goals, one of which he assisted as primary backup to Robert Lewandowski.
Why was the registration not renewed?
The duo’s registration was intended to give Barcelona time to comply with the league’s financial fair play rules, then extend their registration until the end of the season. Delays in the renovation of the Sporify Camp Nou and the need to spend more money to sign Wojciech Szczesny when Marc Andre ter Stegen went down with an injury left Barcelona to look for other options.
They agreed a deal to sell VIP boxes on Spotify Camp Nou, but they did just that unable to prove they had that DEA’s moneyI want to register the duo, which now leads to the current appeal. These have already gone to two court hearings on the interpretation of the rules, but could still be challenged by Barcelona.
No strangers to this
In the past, Barcelona has mitigated situations like this by selling media rights and signing a stadium naming rights deal with Spotify, but since La Liga introduced the spending cap, Barcelona has resisted this. Inigo Martinez was also registered because of these rules, but unlike Victor and Olmo, his registration is still going well. Barcelona have signed a commercial deal with Nike, but will still need extra help to overcome this problem.
What’s next?
Due to league rules that state that a club cannot re-register a player in the same season in which the registration is cancelled, Barcelona will have to bypass what requires a CSD hearing. Barcelona intends to find a way to do that and the number of players leaving for free is not a simple process, which could limit the number of candidates. After already lost two calls to register the duoit remains to be seen whether a third will be successful.
Barcelona are currently third in La Liga behind Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid with 38 points. Having played one more game than Atletico Madrid, their lead in the next league match, an away match against Getafe on January 18, could increase to more than five points in the league.