Why Dani Olmo could make Premier League transfer for FREE in January as Barcelona loophole explained
Barcelona are fighting tooth and nail to avoid losing £51million summer signing Dani Olmo for nothing next month. Cash-strapped Barca are racing the clock to raise funds to keep the Spanish star from being snatched by Premier League clubs for free. Olmo has six goals for Barcelona this seasonGetty Olmo, who was one of the stars in Spain’s Euro 2024 winning squad, started his career at the Camp Nou before leaving in 2014. A decade later he returned to the club via RB Leipzig in a deal worth £51m but had struggles being registered at the start of the season. Eventually, a temporary arrangement was struck which allowed Barcelona to register Olmo until the end of the calendar year. The Catalans’ ongoing financial constraints mean they now face a battle to stop the 26-year-old from leaving as a free agent. Spanish Football Expert Terry Gibson joined talkSPORT’s White & Jordan on Friday to explain how things have got to this point. Speaking to Sam Matterface, Alex Crook, and Troy Deeney, Gibson said: “His buyout clause is 500 million euros and he cost them 50 million euros. “They were only allowed to register him because of the injuries to Andreas Christensen and Ronald Araujo – Because they were going to be out for half a season, their salaries were taken off of the financial fair play that we have in LaLiga, so, therefore, they were allowed to bring in the salary of Dani Olmo. “Christensen and Araujo are now fit again and going to be fit in January. So therefore they go back onto the roster, which means that Dani Olmo has to be taken off as it stands at the moment.” Barcelona’s ‘first bit of chicanery’ involved taking LaLiga to court to get around their registration issues but Judge Ignacio Fernandez de Senespleda, head of the Commercial Court 10 of Barcelona, rejected the Blaugrana’s bid. Hansi Flick’s side now have until the opening day of the January transfer window next week to find a resolution or Olmo will be out. Olmo looked unfazed over his future while watching the NBA on Boxing DayGetty The situation has forced his agent Andy Bara to explore potential moves with a switch to the Premier League among his options. TalkSPORT understands Manchester City have distanced themselves from any deal, but rivals Man United and Arsenal have been credited with an interest. Gibson added: “LaLiga are pushing for more cuts from Barcelona and an increase in revenue to comply with the financial guidelines, and Barcelona have come up with one or two ideas. “One of those is the possible revenue of selling commercially the 20-year leases on executive boxes at the new Camp Nou stadium, which they reckon will raise to 100 to 200 million euros. So that goes some way. “Then of course you’ve got the possible sales of players and players they would like to get off the books. I think even despite the fact that [Robert] Lewandowski had had a more than decent first half of the season, his salary is a problem for Barcelona. “There are other players to sell. Frenkie de Jong, there is talk about him possibly being sold to Saudi Arabia at the age of 27, which would be bizarre. It’s clear Hansi Flick is not using him. That might be a way of trying to push him out the door where he’s been reluctant to go in the past. Barcelona are responsible for two of LaLiga’s highest paid players De Jong takes the wages crown in La LigaGetty “Ronald Araujo, if he doesn’t sign a new deal they’re looking at the possibility of selling him. Christensen is another one. “You could sell someone like Ferran Torres, Eric Garcia and even Fermin Lopez, because Fermin Lopez is a very similar player to Dani Olmo. So they can raise money from selling those types of players. “They’re also making an argument that their youth team has produced players whose values are continually increasing. “So the obvious ones are Gavi, Lamine Yamal – I have no idea what value he is, but I know the big clubs around the world would want to sign him.” La Masia graduates Pedri and Gavi both have release clauses over $1billion while Yamal is the jewel in the academy crown. The 17-year-old winger was recently named the most valuable under-21 footballer in the world and is one of four players worth over €100million [£83.3m] by the CIES Football Observatory. Transfer fees for any of those three would instantly solve Barca’s financial woes but would spark anarchy among the club’s fans. Spanish football expert Gibson instead claimed the five-time Champions League winners are hoping to scrape enough elsewhere. The ongoing redevelopment of the Camp Nou is continuing to hit their wallets however, having been playing at the 55,926-capacity Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys since the start of last season. Yamal’s exit to facilitate Olmo’s registration would cause uproarGetty The obvious solution for Barcelona is to continue flogging their fri
Barcelona are fighting tooth and nail to avoid losing £51million summer signing Dani Olmo for nothing next month.
Cash-strapped Barca are racing the clock to raise funds to keep the Spanish star from being snatched by Premier League clubs for free.
Olmo, who was one of the stars in Spain’s Euro 2024 winning squad, started his career at the Camp Nou before leaving in 2014.
A decade later he returned to the club via RB Leipzig in a deal worth £51m but had struggles being registered at the start of the season.
Eventually, a temporary arrangement was struck which allowed Barcelona to register Olmo until the end of the calendar year.
The Catalans’ ongoing financial constraints mean they now face a battle to stop the 26-year-old from leaving as a free agent.
Spanish Football Expert Terry Gibson joined talkSPORT’s White & Jordan on Friday to explain how things have got to this point.
Speaking to Sam Matterface, Alex Crook, and Troy Deeney, Gibson said: “His buyout clause is 500 million euros and he cost them 50 million euros.
“They were only allowed to register him because of the injuries to Andreas Christensen and Ronald Araujo – Because they were going to be out for half a season, their salaries were taken off of the financial fair play that we have in LaLiga, so, therefore, they were allowed to bring in the salary of Dani Olmo.
“Christensen and Araujo are now fit again and going to be fit in January. So therefore they go back onto the roster, which means that Dani Olmo has to be taken off as it stands at the moment.”
Barcelona’s ‘first bit of chicanery’ involved taking LaLiga to court to get around their registration issues but Judge Ignacio Fernandez de Senespleda, head of the Commercial Court 10 of Barcelona, rejected the Blaugrana’s bid.
Hansi Flick’s side now have until the opening day of the January transfer window next week to find a resolution or Olmo will be out.
The situation has forced his agent Andy Bara to explore potential moves with a switch to the Premier League among his options.
TalkSPORT understands Manchester City have distanced themselves from any deal, but rivals Man United and Arsenal have been credited with an interest.
Gibson added: “LaLiga are pushing for more cuts from Barcelona and an increase in revenue to comply with the financial guidelines, and Barcelona have come up with one or two ideas.
“One of those is the possible revenue of selling commercially the 20-year leases on executive boxes at the new Camp Nou stadium, which they reckon will raise to 100 to 200 million euros. So that goes some way.
“Then of course you’ve got the possible sales of players and players they would like to get off the books. I think even despite the fact that [Robert] Lewandowski had had a more than decent first half of the season, his salary is a problem for Barcelona.
“There are other players to sell. Frenkie de Jong, there is talk about him possibly being sold to Saudi Arabia at the age of 27, which would be bizarre. It’s clear Hansi Flick is not using him. That might be a way of trying to push him out the door where he’s been reluctant to go in the past.
“Ronald Araujo, if he doesn’t sign a new deal they’re looking at the possibility of selling him. Christensen is another one.
“You could sell someone like Ferran Torres, Eric Garcia and even Fermin Lopez, because Fermin Lopez is a very similar player to Dani Olmo. So they can raise money from selling those types of players.
“They’re also making an argument that their youth team has produced players whose values are continually increasing.
“So the obvious ones are Gavi, Lamine Yamal – I have no idea what value he is, but I know the big clubs around the world would want to sign him.”
La Masia graduates Pedri and Gavi both have release clauses over $1billion while Yamal is the jewel in the academy crown.
The 17-year-old winger was recently named the most valuable under-21 footballer in the world and is one of four players worth over €100million [£83.3m] by the CIES Football Observatory.
Transfer fees for any of those three would instantly solve Barca’s financial woes but would spark anarchy among the club’s fans.
Spanish football expert Gibson instead claimed the five-time Champions League winners are hoping to scrape enough elsewhere.
The ongoing redevelopment of the Camp Nou is continuing to hit their wallets however, having been playing at the 55,926-capacity Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys since the start of last season.
The obvious solution for Barcelona is to continue flogging their fringe players, but Gibson pointed out rivals will be acutely aware of the club’s need to push through sales.
Despite this, he believes Olmo will still be at his boyhood club by the end of the winter window.
Gibson told talkSPORT: “I think they’re trying to get to the stage where they’re back in the new stadium. Their current average attendance is a third of what it used to be in the Cam Nou, so that’s why everything is on hold. They’re trying to limp towards getting back into the new stadium.
“Then instead of 30,000, 40,000 capacity, average attendance, it goes up to 90,000 and that solves all the problems.
“And if they were to sell Yamal, Gavi, Pedri, any of those ones, the Koubasi, the Camp Nou will be burnt down because the lifeblood of Barcelona Football Club is, with the supporters, is about producing the likes of Xavi, [Andres] Iniesta, Sergio Busquets and players like that. It’s tradition. So they’ll do everything they can.
“They won’t sell those players. They will keep those ones. They will sell the ones that they’ve bought. They will sell the ones, as I mentioned, Ferran Torres, Christensen, De Jong. And that will raise enough revenue.
“It’s not a great time to be selling if you’re Barcelona because every club knows that you’re desperate for money. They’re not skint. They’re like most big clubs in the world, apart from the fact they’re not owned by anybody in particular, no one owns Barcelona Football Club, it’s owned by the members.
“But they just need to comply with the financial fair play of La Liga, which is really, really tough. And I think not being in the Camp Nou has hurt them tremendously.
“And it’s not long after COVID as well, where they were planning an empty Camp Nou before it was knocked down. So it’s been a problematic time for Barcelona.
“But I have no doubt that Dani Olmo will still be playing for Barcelona in January.”
