Dani Olmo faces missing another La Liga game over registration delay

Barcelona have named summer signing Dani Olmo in their squad for Saturday evening’s La Liga clash with Athletic Club, but there is still no guarantee he will be able to play.

Olmo, who cost around €60m from RB Leipzig earlier this month, missed last weekend’s La Liga opener against Valencia because he couldn’t be registered to play.

Barcelona’s ongoing financial problems of recent years are to blame, still stuck on the limiting 1:4 spending rules until they can meet the necessary thresholds to return to 1:1. The club needs to create sufficient room in terms of their budget before Olmo can be registered to play.

Optimistically, Barca included Olmo on their squad list for the visit of Athletic Club. But his name featured an asterisk next to it, indicating it remains dependent on La Liga signing it off.

In the past week, the Catalans have bid farewell to Ilkay Gundogan, who has returned to former club Manchester City on a free transfer, removing his contract from the salary burden. A deal that will see Clement Lenglet join Atletico Madrid on loan also looks close to being agreed.

Olmo has been training as normal and the situation will be enormously frustrating to him. Gundogan was in the same boat this time last year, having just arrived, while various economic ‘levers’ were triggered in 2022 to make it possible to register Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha in 2022.

On top of the injured Gavi, Frenkie de Jong and Ronald Araujo, Andreas Christensen has joined the list of unavailable players. The Danish defender has suffered an Achilles injury, confirmed by the club, with reports suggesting it could be two months before he is able to play again.

Christensen has been linked with Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur and Newcastle United, and injury is likely to derail chances of being to sell him and raise further cash.

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