Source: Barça to go to court for Olmo registration

Barcelona are seeking a court order to extend Dani Olmo and Pau Víctor‘s registrations until the end of the season, a source has confirmed to ESPN.

President Joan Laporta said on Tuesday that the club are exploring various ways to register the duo beyond Dec. 31, which is when their temporary registrations, granted to cover Andreas Christensen‘s injury, expire.

One way is to take the issue to court and request that LaLiga push through the registrations, as a failure to do so would go against workers’ rights in Spain.

A source told ESPN a hearing will be held on Dec. 23, with Barça hopeful of a response by Dec. 27.

The Catalan club previously took a similar route when attempting to register Gavi in January 2023. On that occasion, a court ordered LaLiga to accept the midfielder’s new contract at Barcelona and his registration into the first team.

Laporta also said Barça will continue to seek other avenues to ensure Olmo and Victor are registered by January when Spanish football resumes after a short winter break.

The club will press the case that they can register additional players in place of injured goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen, although LaLiga point out they have already signed Wojciech Szczęsny to replace the German international.

Barça will also continue to try and create space within their annual spending cap — fixed at €426 million for the season — by raising new revenue.

A source told ESPN that Barça remain around €60m in excess of their spending limit.

They recently announced a new deal with kit supplier Nike that will give them a revenue boost. The agreement must first be approved by the club’s members, though, with a vote planned for Saturday, although a source confirmed that will not be enough to move them back inside their cap.

Each Spanish club is given league-imposed spending limit for the year and, if they are in breach of that limit, they can only spend a fraction of what they make or save on registering new players.

Barça managed to push through Olmo and Victor’s registrations in August by appealing to a LaLiga rule that allows players to be registered if another player in the squad is ruled out for at least four months.

Christensen’s injury enabled Olmo and Victor to be registered, therefore, but only temporarily until Dec. 31, which is Barça’s deadline for extending the two summer signings’ registrations for the second half of the season.