Just 24 hours before the start of the new La Liga season, Barcelona are facing a sell-out as the club is unable to sign FIVE new players.
Barca’s financial problems are well documented, as are their difficulties in registering players.
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One of the players they cannot sign is £60 million new signing Dani Olmo.
The Spanish record champions recently brought the winner of the 2024 European Championship to Camp Nou from RB Leipzig on a six-year contract, but it is still unclear when exactly he will make his competitive debut.
According to Spanish news channel Cadena SER, the registrations of Olmo and other Barca players are at risk if the club does not pay the 100 million euros owed by German company Libero for taking over 25 percent of Barca Studios.
Although the club has reached an agreement with catering and hotel partner Aramark to cover €40 million of these costs for the month of October, the remaining €60 million for June still needs to be paid.
As things stand, Barcelona cannot currently register Olmo because doing so would violate LaLiga’s Financial Fair Play rules.
The fourth other players who cannot be registered are Inigo Martinez, Vitor Roque, Pau Victor and Pablo Torre.
Mundo Deportivo reports that Barcelona is trying to offload Mikayil, Clement Lenglet and Vitor Roque immediately to solve its problems.
There are also some longer-term transfer targets that could still end up at the exit.
Midfielder Frenkie de Jong has been frequently linked with a possible move away from the club, but he is said to be happy with the club and unwilling to leave.
Other potential candidates for sale would be defender Ronald Araujo and former Leeds star Raphinha, although the former’s current four-month injury layoff due to a thigh injury could make the deal difficult to complete.
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The battle over Olmo’s registration is just the latest saga in the club’s well-documented financial difficulties in recent years.
Previous signings Memphis Depay, Sergio Aguero and Ferran Torres all had to wait until they were registered in 2021 and 2022 respectively before contracts were agreed.
Only a few days left until the start of the season. Sporting director Deco and president Joan Laporta are under enormous pressure to ensure that new coach Hansi Flick has the full squad available for kick-off.
Barcelona will face Valencia in the first game of the season on Saturday and Flick is already under criticism.
In response, he said: “I know what this team can do. It was not our game, we were not good, but in Valencia we will do it differently. I am sure we will win another [kind of] Perfomance.”