Barcelona’s Financial Struggles: The Dani Olmo and Pau Víctor Saga
In the world of football, few stories have captured the attention of fans and pundits alike as much as the ongoing saga involving Barcelona, Dani Olmo, and Pau Víctor. The drama, which has been unfolding since the start of the year, has all the elements of a classic football controversy: financial intrigue, regulatory challenges, and a touch of on-field drama.
According to LaLiga, Barcelona has never had the salary space to register Dani Olmo or Pau Víctor. This revelation comes as Spain’s sports ministry (CSD) is set to rule on whether the duo can continue to play this season. The league has raised questions about a €100 million deal that led to the CSD granting Olmo and Víctor temporary registrations in January. They plan to report the unnamed auditor Barça used to verify the sale of VIP seats at Spotify Camp Nou, which is currently undergoing redevelopment.
Interestingly, this deal was not recorded in the accounts that Barça submitted to LaLiga last week for the 2024-25 season, which were approved by a different auditor. “The financial statements show Barcelona did not have on Dec. 31, 2024, nor on Jan. 3, 2025, nor since that date the capacity to register Olmo and Víctor,” the league said in a statement on Wednesday.
LaLiga has also communicated to Barça “the reduction of their spending limit,” which had risen to €463m in February. They have forwarded all information to the CSD and reported the unnamed auditor to Spain’s Institute of Accounting and Auditing of Accounts (ICAC).
Despite the mounting pressure, a club source told ESPN that Barça did not plan to respond to LaLiga’s statement. The CSD is expected to make a final decision before April 7 on whether Olmo and Víctor’s registrations should be revoked for the rest of the season.
At a luncheon for club directors, Barcelona chief Joan Laporta commented on the situation, describing it as “another huge attempt to destabilize Barcelona.” He added, “Today we are playing a final against Atlético Madrid, and the reactivation of controversies of this kind isn’t a coincidence. It is just another huge attempt to destabilize our team, and sometimes I get the feeling that what they can’t beat us on the field, they want to beat us in the offices. As president of Barcelona, I won’t allow this and I will continue to defend the club’s interests.”
The issue has been ongoing since the turn of the year when Barça missed a Dec. 31 deadline to prove they were compliant with LaLiga’s financial regulations to register Olmo and Víctor for the second half of the campaign. They had initially received temporary registrations via a league rule that allowed them to be registered in place of a long-term injured player, in this case, Andreas Christensen.
LaLiga later confirmed that the sale of VIP seats for €100m had brought the club back within the regulations on Jan. 3, but the chance to prolong Olmo and Víctor’s registrations had passed. Barça appealed that decision to the CSD, which agreed to reinstate the registrations while they analyzed the case during a three-month window, which is up this week.
The CSD’s decision provoked outrage across the league, with LaLiga president Javier Tebas and Athletic Club chief Jon Uriarte voicing their complaints, while several top-flight clubs also released statements questioning the ruling.
Olmo, who joined Barça from RB Leipzig last summer for around €60m, is currently sidelined with an adductor injury, which is set to rule him out until the middle of April. Since the CSD’s ruling, the Spain international has made 13 appearances in all competitions, including seven in LaLiga, scoring two goals and providing four assists. Víctor, meanwhile, has featured just five times in the same period, with all of his outings coming as a substitute.
- Barcelona’s financial struggles continue to make headlines.
- The CSD’s decision on Olmo and Víctor is eagerly awaited.
- LaLiga’s stance has sparked controversy across the league.
Originally Written by: Sam Marsden,Moises Llorens
