Barcelona are convinced that they will be able to resolve their registration issues with Dani Olmo and Pau Victor in the next 24 hours, having seen La Liga unregister both players on their website this Wednesday.
President Joan Laporta, Vice-President Rafa Yuste, Treasurer Ferran Olive and Director Joan Soler met at the club offices on Thursday for an encounter that lasted almost four hours, as per Markas they tried to resolve the matter. They came out of that meeting optimistic, with the same source saying they believe that they will have Olmo and Victor registered before Hansi Flick’s pre-match press conference at 13:00 CEST on Friday.
That information is corroborated by Sportwho say that Barcelona are â€کalmost certain’ that La Liga will accept the sale of VIP boxes at Camp Nou, and thus increase their salary limit sufficiently to register Olmo and Victor again. They consider that the entire deal has been â€کaccredited’, and that the €100m will be added to their accounts, in a deal that will run for the next 20 years with two as of yet unnamed companies from Qatar and Dubai.
‼ï¸ڈ Explicat a @EsportsRAC1
ًںژ™ï¸ڈ Marta RamonThe strategy of Bara§a happens because the RFEF accepts that the Olmo case is of force majeure
The club assures that tomorrow they will enter the rule of the 1-1 of the Fair Play thanks to the sale of VIP seats and will obtain the OK of La Liga#frac1 pic.twitter.com/AzCiQKMTzB
– Barأ§a plays RAC1 (@FCBRAC1) January 2, 2025
The obvious issue is that they have already passed the deadline to have Olmo and Victor registered. Once they have been unregistered, they cannot be registered a second time, and as things stand, will not be able to play for the rest of the season, be it for Barcelona or otherwise. However RAC1 explain that Barcelona will refer to a clause in the ruling that describes an exception for â€کforce majeure’, which in legal terms describes â€کunforeseeable circumstances that prevent someone from fulfilling a contract.’
It is not entirely clear what they will refer to in that sense, but Barcelona have been briefing to local media that La Liga’s request for additional documentation is behind the delay in registering Olmo and Victor. Laporta also believes that they provided all the necessary documents to La Liga on time, and it was their examination process that took the matter into January, and past the deadline.
The fate of Olmo and Victor lies in the hands of the interpretation of force majeure and ultimately, La Liga. Either way, there will be significant backlash; in Barcelona, Joan Laporta’s detractors will feel they have the ammunition to end his presidency if they go unregistered; in La Liga, other clubs will no doubt be asking questions of President Javier Tebas if they receive what will be seen as preferential treatment.
