Dani Olmo and Pau Victor are a Spanish midfielder and forward, respectively, who currently play for Barcelona. They are at risk of not being allowed to play in the second half of the season due to registration and financial issues. This is all the result of Barcelona's past dealings that have left them financially strapped for cash and having to sell off assets just to sign and register players.
Spain's football authorities have rejected Barcelona's attempt to register Dani Olmo and Pau Victor for the second half of the season. The summer signings were initially only registered until the end of December because of the competition's wage-cap restrictions.
Both men may now be sidelined until the summer, with their careers on hold; while there has been recent speculation that the highly coveted Olmo could leave the club. Former Girona player, Pau Victor, 23, has featured almost entirely as a substitute in Spain's top flight this season.
A joint statement from the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) and La Liga confirmed they turned down Barcelona's request to register both players.
The statement read: "The monitoring committee agrees not to grant the prior approval or the definitive licence requested by FC Barcelona for the players Daniel Olmo Carvajal and Pau Victor Delgado."
RFEF and La Liga said they were both satisfied with the club's improved financial position after recent efforts to bring in funds.
However, league rules state that the same club can't re-register a player in the same season in which their registration was cancelled, the joint statement said. Requests made by Barcelona to register the duo had previously been rejected by two courts.
Spanish media reported that Barcelona still plan on filing a complaint to the Spanish government in a bid to extend the players' registrations, although the club have yet to comment on the latest outcome.
As of 1 January, his name - along with the lesser-known Pau Víctor - was removed from Barcelona's official list of 33 registered players approved by La Liga, the governing body led by Javier Tebas.
The £51m summer signing - and Euro 2024 winner with Spain - was registered as a special exemption only for the first half of the season because Barcelona's difficult financial situation could not meet La Liga's stringent wage cap restrictions. The Catalan giants were only able to register Olmo and Victor for the first six months of the season as a temporary measure after a long-term injury to Andreas Christensen.
He has scored six goals in 15 appearances this season but, as it stands, won't be able to play for the club again this season after a court twice rejected Barca's appeal to register the player on a second temporary basis.
According to La Liga, the court rejected the precautionary registration of Olmo after, "none of the conditions necessary for the adoption of the precautionary measure were met."
This dramatic move marks the culmination of a confusing time at the Catalan club after they failed to provide any viable solution to register new players before the league's 31 December deadline.
The tension within the club's offices escalated on Friday as it became clear that their plan to secure the legal documentation for Olmo and Víctor had unravelled, creating what has to be considered a full-blown scandal.
This crisis encompasses sporting, financial and reputational dimensions. Financially, Barcelona must pay the full € 48 million (£40m) to RB Leipzig for Olmo, with his long-term contract running until 2030.
They will also have to pay him the totality of his contract, a clause added to his contract, which leaves the club with a financial gap of € 120 million (£100m).
Reputationally, the debacle tarnishes the club's image, particularly that of its president, Joan Laporta, who was voted in in March 2021. Laporta, who has personally overseen this issue, now finds himself exposed.
Since the departure of chief executive, Ferran Reverter, in early 2022 and the resignation of economic vice-president, Eduard Romeu, in 2024, two of 20 directors who have left unable to accept the way things are run at the club. Laporta has declined to fill these crucial roles, leaving him solely accountable for the fallout.
The situation deteriorated further after Barcelona faced two swift legal defeats in less than 72 hours before the La Liga deadline, as courts in Barcelona rejected the club's requests for provisional measures to register Olmo and Víctor.
With these avenues closed, Laporta turned to the Spanish Football Federation, requesting new licenses for both players, something that is not accepted by La Liga who don't allow a player to be registered by the same club twice in a season.
The Federation, led by Rafael Louzan, has little incentive to challenge La Liga, especially after Tebas was recently appointed as Louzan's vice president. This alignment has left Barcelona without allies, rendering Laporta's appeals futile.
The last glimmer of hope for Barcelona lies in a proposed deal to sell VIP seats at the future Spotify Camp Nou for € 100–120 million - an amount significantly lower than what the club could have secured under less desperate circumstances.
Barcelona claims the funds have been paid, albeit after La Liga's deadline, and are now attempting to convince the league to accept the payment and allow the registration of players.
However, La Liga maintains Barcelona failed to submit the required documentation confirming the transaction before the deadline, meaning the club cannot re-register Olmo or Víctor.
Ironically, while Barcelona may be blocked from re-registering their players, they might still be able to sign new ones. Yet, to facilitate any of this, the club has had to pre-sell seats in a stadium that doesn't yet exist.
The failure to register Olmo and Víctor is just one symptom of Barcelona's broader financial troubles. Four months after the initial registration deadline, the club has yet to meet La Liga's stringent financial controls.
This isn't the first instance of financial difficulty under Laporta. The 2022 sale of its digital media business, Barca Vision, intended to generate revenue, instead it resulted in a € 141 million loss last season as money promised for the sale was not received.
Despite a new lucrative agreement with Nike, Barcelona remain constrained financially due to accumulated debt exceeding one billion euros, exacerbated by years of poor management and high operating costs - a situation that has persisted under Laporta's leadership.
Additionally, the renovation of the Spotify Camp Nou has added approximately € 1.5 billion euros of debt, further straining the club's resources.
While the stadium's re-opening is expected to generate significant revenue, it does little to offset the current financial predicament. Critics argue that the club no longer truly belongs to its season ticket holders but rather to financial institutions and banks that now hold significant influence over its operations.
These repeated failures have eroded trust in Laporta's leadership both within the club and across Spanish football.Laporta's leadership style, characterised by populist rhetoric and an aversion to accountability, has come under increasing scrutiny.
From failing to retain Lionel Messi to missing deadlines for the Camp Nou's re-opening, his tenure has been marked by unfulfilled promises and controversial decisions. Even more concerning is his willingness to sacrifice long-term stability for short-term gains with the famous levers, basically the selling of bits of the club, mortgaging its future.
Barcelona captain, Ronald Araujo, told Moviestar+, "We are a little worried because they are two very important players for us. It is a subject that is in bad taste for our teammates, but we hope it can be resolved." He additionally said, "As captain I have tried to reassure them."
Olmo has remained publicly unfazed by the chaos surrounding his future. The Euro 2024 winner inserted a clause into his contract when he signed for Barcelona over the summer allowing him to become a free agent if this registration eventuality presented itself.
However, Olmo's agent has always insisted that his client has no intention of leaving Barcelona despite extensive interest from a glut of Premier League clubs.
According to AS, Olmo and Victor are "tremendously angry" with Laporta after Barca's attempts to re-register both players were rejected by La Liga and the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF). Barcelona fans have also vented their anger at Laporta and called on him to resign amid the continuing saga regarding the two attackers.
Barcelona group Som un Clam's president, Joan Camprubi Montal, has voiced his opinion over the trouble that Laporta has led Barcelona into and asked for the 62-year-old and the club board to resign in a letter published on social media.
The letter read: "From Som un Clam we want to express our total indignation and shame caused by the management of President Joan Laporta and the board of directors regarding the registrations of Dani Olmo and Pau Victor, and we demand his resignation. What we have experienced in the last hours of 2024 shows that the vicious circle in which the club's governing team has entered has fully exploded. Sooner than even imaginable, amateur and erratic management is beginning to affect the sporting performance of the first team, which could be deprived of two of its signings."
"Given this situation, Som un Clam insists that the vicious circle we have entered due to the management of the board endangers the assets of our club and its ownership model. For this reason, we call for the resignation of the president and the board of directors, while we call on Barcelona fans to mobilise , reverse this situation and make their voice heard."
"At 'Som un Clam' we also want to show our solidarity with the players involved and express our support for Dani Olmo and Pau Víctor in these difficult times. We need their talent and commitment to face the sporting challenges of the first team with stability."
Barcelona has created their own mess. The Covid pandemic really brought the club into reality. It exposed their atrocious financial records. If this continues, I foresee Barcelona selling all and then being unable to, maintain control of any assets. Hence, they won't be able to sign any more players and quite possibly being unable to pay their players.
Bottom line is this: they have made their beds and now they have to lie in it.