In a last-ditch effort to guarantee that star midfielder Dani Olmo would be permitted to play for the team in 2025, Barcelona has taken La Liga to court.

It took until the third week of the season for the former La Masia star to formally make his senior debut. In an appropriate gesture, Olmo tapped a mock watch to celebrate scoring the game-winning goal against Rayo Vallecano after coming off the bench.

Barcelona’s inability to comply with La Liga’s stringent financial requirements caused that delay. Only after Andreas Christensen suffered a serious injury could the financially constrained Catalan giants find space in the salary cap to sign Olmo.

Christensen has now fully recovered, and when Olmo’s six-month temporary contract ends on December 31st, the temporary solution will be nullified. According to a report from the Spanish daily Marca, Barcelona has approached the courts in an attempt to obtain a “precautionary measure” and has asked the judge to permit them to proceed with Olmo’s registration in January.

The hearing for this urgent appeal is scheduled for Monday, December 23. Four days later, on Friday, December 27, a ruling is anticipated.

Barcelona would have to begin the Olmo registration process anew if this step is not approved and they are unable to secure additional funding by the year’s end. Because he is thought to have a clause in his contract that would allow him to leave as a free agent if he is not registered to play, there is also a chance that the player will walk away from this problem completely.

In the event that the courts allow Barcelona an extension, they might potentially free up more funds by aggressively selling players during the January transfer window.

When the team reached a massive sponsorship agreement with Nike earlier this month, they believed they had resolved the financial issue around Olmo. The money from this deal, however, has turned out to be insufficient, and Barcelona was prevented from repeating the injury trick after Wojciech Szczesny was signed in the middle of the season with the money made available by Marc-Andre ter Stegen’s prolonged absence.

A personal bank guarantee from each board member is Barcelona’s last option. Their own funds are at danger with this last offering. The Athletic estimates that Barcelona will require about €60 million to meet La Liga’s payroll cap.

Barcelona’s sporting director Deco yelled at the gathered reporters when they kept asking him about it earlier this month, although he did emphasize that “we can surely register Dani Olmo before the end of the year.”