Dani Olmo and Pau Victor joined Barcelona last summer, but at the time of signing their contracts, the Blaugrana could not register any players. The reason is that the Catalan team violated the annual spending limit set by La Liga.
All clubs in Spain are assigned a certain limit by La Liga. The limit is roughly determined by the difference between a team's revenue minus non-sporting expenses and debt payments. Barca's revenue for the current season is €426 million but they still exceeded that amount on December 31, 2024.
Teams that violate the limit are allowed to spend a certain percentage of any earnings - through transfers, salary reductions or new sources of revenue - to new players. There is also a rule that allows teams to temporarily use up to 80% of an injured player's wages as a replacement.
That is how Olmo and Victor were registered at the end of August. The injury of defender Andreas Christensen created enough space in the club's limit to register this pair but only on a temporary basis until December 31, 2024.
At the time, president Joan Laporta said in a press conference that he was not concerned that the registration would be temporary. He also expressed confidence that the club will soon operate within the limits of La Liga. A new deal worth more than €100 million with Nike was the main reason for that optimism. However, according to ESPN, the agreement with the US company was not enough for Barca to extend the registration.
However, within Barcelona, they are still optimistic. However, the situation is still long and Barca seem to have run out of options last month. They have lost two trials on how to interpret La Liga's FFP rules.
The Blaugrana have debated on many fronts, first focusing on domestic workers' rights and then the right to register players at 80% of the salary of injured goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen. However, Wojciech Szczesny was signed to replace Ter Stegen and both judges ruled against Barca in all aspects.
Their final option is to sell VIP Box at Camp Nou. The deal is worth around €100 million, but it will be difficult to complete the terms, transfer the paperwork to La Liga and provide evidence of the amount before the 31.12.2024 deadline. As the deadline approached, the tournament issued a statement saying that Barca had failed to ensure compliance with regulations. The next day, Olmo and Victor were not registered.
On Friday (local time), Barcelona still expressed confidence that they could turn the situation around. Coach Hansi Flick said that both he and the players affected were unhappy with the situation at a press conference before the match in Copa Del Rey against Barbastro. However, Flick added that he was confident the club would solve the problem.
A few hours later, Barca received 28 million Euros in payment related to the Box VIP deal. They have submitted the necessary documents to La Liga and can now operate under the league's 1:1 ratio rule. Simply put, they are allowed to spend €1 for every €1 they earn.
The problem was that Barca sent it 3 days late in the case of Olmo and Victor. Therefore, both the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) and La Liga rejected their latest attempt.
