Barcelona captain Ronald Araujo revealed that uncertainty over the futures of Dani Olmo and Pau Victor had left him and his teammates “worried”.
The Catalan giants were only able to sign Olmo and Victor on a temporary basis for the first six months of the season following a long-term injury to Andreas Christensen. This expired on December 31st. Barcelona failed to prove they had raised the necessary funds to make room in the budget for players’ salaries before the end of 2024 and so the pair were removed from La Liga’s official database.
Although La Liga and the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) were always optimistic that a solution would be found, they rejected Barcelona’s request to re-register the pair. Although revenue from a VIP seat contract was confirmed late by authorities, this guarantee was only granted after the December 31 deadline. Once a player’s registration has expired, he cannot be registered again with the same club in a single season.
Olmo and Victor were not part of the Barcelona squad that faced fourth division club Barbastro on Saturday evening, but Araujo returned for his first appearance of the season after recovering from injury. As expected, the captain was asked about the duo after the 4-0 win.
“We are a little worried because they are two very important players for us,” Araujo said Movistar+. “This is a distasteful issue for our teammates, but we hope it can be resolved.”
The captain added: “As captain, I tried to calm them down.”
Olmo publicly appeared unfazed by the chaos surrounding his future. The Euro 2024 winner inserted a clause into his contract when signing with Barcelona in the summer that would allow him to become a free agent should that registration prove possible.
However, Olmo’s agent has always insisted that his client has no intention of leaving Barcelona, despite numerous Premier League clubs showing strong interest in doing so.
Barcelona have not given up hope of keeping Olmo and Victor. The La Liga giants have one last trick to keep the duo by taking the case to the Spanish government before La Liga and RFEF. The Higher Sports Council (CSD) will hear Barcelona’s appeal on Tuesday, January 7, although there may be a significant delay before a final decision is made.