Barcelona have seen their second court motion to maintain Pau Victor and Dani Olmo registered with the RFEF rejected, after their first attempt was denied on Friday. The Blaugrana have just 24 hours to prevent Olmo potentially leaving on a free transfer.
The Blaugrana were pessimistic about their chances of getting the decision overturned in court, but alleged that La Liga’s Committee were not the relevant body that should be enforcing salary controls, which has been denied in court in Barcelona on Monday. La Liga released a statement thereafter, pointing out that the same committee has been in charge of the matter for the last 12 years, and that Barcelona like all of the other clubs in La Liga had agreed to those rules.
Barcelona have just two options remaining to register Olmo and Victor, say Relevo, both of which involve increasing their salary limit. The Blaugrana have agreed a deal to sell some of the commercial rights to their VIP boxes at the newly renovated Camp Nou for the next 20 years in exchange for €100m. The Blaugrana have already sent the contract details to La Liga, but the governing body want to ratify that the deal has been completed before registering Olmo and Victor.
The other option, which has been described as ‘practically ruled out’, is for Barcelona’s directors to sign a bank guarantee, which allows club directors to become personally liable for an amount of income due to arrive that same season. If it does not, they are forced to pay the amount, which in this case would be €60m.
The entire matter is of paramount importance for Barcelona, as Olmo has a clause in his contract allowing him to leave for free if he is not registered for the second half of the season. Not only would they lose the player, but also the €55m invested in him in transfer fees alone. Barcelona have preached calm, but it certainly leaves the Blaugrana in a precarious position.
