Dani Olmo made a $60M homecoming to Barcelona over two weeks ago. But Blaugrana’s new ace midfielder has yet to hit the pitch.
That’s because the 26-year-old remains caught in a sea of Barcelona exuberance. The club is overspending in relation to La Liga’s strict salary cap.
La Liga sets a wage limit based on club revenue, and Barcelona’s €100 million shortfall last season has made it difficult for them to comply.
What Barcelona have to do to register Dani Olmo
Ilkay Gundogan’s “sudden” departure from the Catalan giants after one season comes as no surprise. He was the team’s third-highest earner, at $21 million per season. Despite the savings, Barcelona still has some work to do in registering Olmo.
The club needs to conduct more transfer exits (Ansu Fati, Clement Lenglet, Mikayil Faye, to name a few), perhaps another cash injection (hello crypto), and some personal bank guarantees from the higher-ups. The pocket-book strategy is how club president Joan Laporta enabled deadline-day signings of Joa Felix and Joao Cancelo to register last season.
Will we see Olmo this weekend?
Barcelona head coach Hansi Flick remains hopeful that Olmo will suit up this weekend against Athletic Club.
“Dani’s ready to play. We’re waiting for [him to be registered]. Hopefully, [on Saturday] he’s on the team because that would help us a lot,” admitted Flick.
“He’s an outstanding player. You can see in training, when he’s under pressure, around the goal, he’s unbelievable. It’s good to have him on the team as soon as possible.”
Olmo must be registered before August 30 to play the first half of the season. We suspect Dani’s debut is around the corner.
