Barcelona's plea to extend Olmo's registration rejected in court

Dani Olmo could be unavailable for the rest of Barcelona's La Liga campaign after a court rejected the club's request to extend the attacker's registration beyond its current expiry of Dec. 31.

La Liga has welcomed the decision from Commercial Court No. 10 of Barcelona. The Catalan club's spending cap for the 2024-25 campaign is €426 million. La Liga will only allow its clubs to free up more space through transfer income, a reduction in its wage bill, or by raising revenue.

Barcelona have filed an appeal to the magistrate court, according to Spanish reports relayed by BBC Sport. The hearing would be set for Monday, which is a day before Olmo's registration deadline.

Barcelona recently signed a new long-term kit deal with Nike, but that income isn't enough to register Olmo, sources told ESPN's Sam Marsden and Moises Llorens. Among the reported options being explored to ensure Olmo remains on the squad list for La Liga are the presale of VIP seats at the Camp Nou and a personal guarantee from a board member to enable the registration.

The latter route helped register Jules Kounde in 2022 and both Joao Felix and Joao Cancelo in 2023.

Olmo, who arrived from RB Leipzig for around €60 million last summer, was initially allowed a temporary registration until the end of the calendar year to cover a long-term injury to Andreas Christensen. Spanish newspaper Mundo Deportivo has reported that Barcelona risk losing Olmo on a free transfer if he can't be registered, but sources close to the player and club have stressed to ESPN that it's extremely unlikely.

Olmo has scored five times in 11 La Liga appearances this season, while adding a goal and assist in four Champions League outings.

Pau Victor is in the same situation as Olmo. The 23-year-old forward has made 17 appearances across all competitions, scoring twice and assisting once since joining from Girona in the summer.