A severe and unanticipated setback for Barça, who will have to come up with a last-minute plan to sign Pau Víctor and Dani Olmo. The precautionary measure that the club asked in order to continue relying on these players for the forthcoming season has been denied by the judge.
When the winter transfer window begins on January 2, the organization led by Joan Laporta has one more appeal to make sure both players can continue to play in blue and claret rather than becoming free agents who may join with another team.
In an effort to obtain the preventative remedy that would enable Olmo and Pau Víctor to continue being accessible to coach Hansi Flick during the pivotal second half of the season, Barça will bring a new case against the team in a first-instance court on Monday, December 30.
The club’s attorneys will contend that all registration regulations are void since they are overseen by the Delegate Commission of La Liga, an organization they believe to be inept. But the Catalans are running out of time because they have until Tuesday, December 31 to register Olmo for the tournament.
Judge Ignacio Fernández de Senespleda, who is in charge of mercantile court 10 of, made the decision following a hearing last Monday in which attorneys from La Liga and the Azulgrana Club were called to the Ciutat de la Justícia in Barcelona to make their cases in response to the lawsuit that Barça had filed. Although the case had been kept under wraps, they had hoped that the court would rule in favor of Dani Olmo’s registration, which hasn’t happened in the end.
In addition to citing Olmo and Pau Víctor’s entitlement to work, Barça contended that they could register both reinforcements using Ter Stegen’s remaining pay, which was almost $14 million. Although both players may be included in that surplus, LaLiga insisted that the rule permitting a player to be registered because of an injury is unambiguous—only one replacement, not the addition of new players, is allowed. Notably, Barça took advantage of the German goalkeeper’s chronic ailment to sign Polish player Wojciech Szczesny, who hasn’t played yet.
