Barcelona’s desire to continue playing Victor and Olmo is denied

Spanish football officials rejected Barcelona’s most recent effort to prolong their registration on Saturday, stating that Dani Olmo and Pau Victor would not be eligible to play for the La Liga team in the second half of the season.

Victor, a 23-year-old attacker, has mostly played as a substitute this season, whereas Olmo, a 26-year-old midfielder who helped Spain win the European Championship last year, has been a key member of Barcelona’s squad.

Real Madrid leads La Liga by five points, and Barcelona is in third place.

They had recruited Victor in July and Olmo from RB Leipzig in August for a six-year contract worth about 55 million euros ($56.7 million), but they were only registered for the first half of the season because of La Liga pay ceiling restrictions.

In a joint statement, LaLiga and the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) claimed they had denied a request to register both players for the second half, citing the inability of a player’s license to be reinstated by the same club within the same season.

“The Monitoring Committee agrees not to grant the prior approval, or the definitive license requested by FC Barcelona for the players Daniel Olmo Carvajal and Pau Victor Delgado,” declared the RFEF.

The club has previously had its requests denied by two courts.

WELCOME LEGAL RULINGS

LaLiga has previously praised the court decisions, stating that while more expenditure is permitted to prevent chronic injuries from devaluing a team, the law shouldn’t be abused to permit the registration of players whose salaries are higher than the cap.

Argentine soccer player Lionel Messi created a real estate investment trust, which debuted on the Spanish market at 57.4 euros per share.

After first team players were sidelined for months due to chronic ailments, the club was able to sign Olmo, who was the Euros’ joint best scorer, by allocating a percentage of their pay.

According to Spanish media, Barcelona intends to make a final effort to get the two players to play by submitting a protest to the Spanish government through the Administrative Sports Court (CSD).

Barcelona did not immediately comment.

Barcelona coach Hansi Flick expressed his displeasure with the current state of affairs on Friday, but he maintained his faith that the team will find a solution.

Later on Saturday, Barca will play fourth-tier team Barbastro in the Copa del Rey, although neither Olmo nor Victor were included in the squad.

The LaLiga website has also deleted the profiles of both players and replaced them with the notice, “We do not have any data on this player.”

Olmo’s contract reportedly contains a clause that allows him to leave as a free agent because he isn’t even allowed to be loaned to another team without being registered.

This is not the first time Barcelona has failed to sign a key player; in 2021, the Catalan team famously allowed Lionel Messi to depart despite the Argentine forward’s desire to stay at the team where he began his career.

Joan Laporta, the president at the time, claimed that Barcelona’s future would have been in jeopardy due to Messi’s expensive salary and the stringent La Liga financial regulations.

($1 is equivalent to 0.9701 euros).