Barcelona are close to completing a deal worth about €60million (£51.6m, $65.5m) to sign Spain international Dani Olmo from RB Leipzig.
The 26-year-old attacking midfielder was key to La Roja’s European Championship success this summer. He was formed at Barca’s youth academy, leaving at the age of 16 after seven years at La Masia. He is valued by the club’s key figures for his skill and versatility.
But this is also a move that raises questions. Given everything we know about Barca’s troubled finances, their weaknesses in other areas and the fact they turned attention to Olmo after efforts to sign Nico Williams, does it really make sense? And how can they pull it off?
Why do Barca want him?
Deco firmly believes Barcelona need to bolster their attacking options, and Olmo is a player that will do that. He can play in numerous positions, is capable of contributing solid goal involvement numbers and counts with the blessing of new manager Hansi Flick as well, who rates him as a top player.
Olmo’s versatility is seen as a great asset. As much as he proved over Euro 2024 with Spain that arguably his best position is as a No 10, he can perfectly perform on both flanks of the attack, as a false nine or even as a deeper attacking midfielder.
Barca have known for months that he was very keen on a move back home. Olmo was tipped for a sale for some time, but he has been willing to wait for Barcelona and he is open to waiting for the club to sort out their financial situation before they can register him under La Liga rules, too.
But he wasn’t their number one target?
No, that was Nico Williams. The 22-year-old winger also met the criteria of being a significant upgrade to their attacking line. The chemistry he showed with Barcelona players with Spain this summer, especially Lamine Yamal, vouched for the good fit of his signing. On a marketing level, having the Yamal-Williams partnership at the club was hugely appealing to the Barca board.
Yamal and Williams after victory over England in the Euro 2024 final (Tom Weller/picture alliance via Getty Images)
But club sources started to be openly pessimistic about their chances of landing Williams about two weeks ago. That’s when they decided to intensify talks over Olmo.
Deco did not travel with Barca to the United States for their pre-season tour due to the pending work he had in the transfer market, and he has been actively working with Olmo’s camp and RB Leipzig over the past week. On Monday, Barcelona’s sporting director travelled to Leipzig with the intention of sealing the deal as soon as possible. Olmo’s insistence on joining the Catalan club eventually forced all sides to reach an agreement.
Do they need him?
It’s a valid question. Well, you might ask which team could not use an addition such as Olmo? Surely every manager in the world would be happy to have him in their squad, but, at the same time, it is hard to see his profile as the most needed for Barcelona’s unbalanced team.
Olmo’s best position, as proved at the Euros, is playing as a No 10. That is where current stars Pedri, Ilkay Gundogan, Gavi or even Fermin Lopez are tipped to play. As a start, Olmo will probably fit into the squad as a left-winger, competing with Raphinha for a place in Flick’s line-up.
At the same time, the club has an ongoing problem in the holding midfield role. With La Liga’s start just 10 days away, right now Flick’s options there are centre-back Andreas Christensen, or 17-year-old academy product Marc Bernal, who has looked great in pre-season.
Where else do they need to strengthen?
It is hard to see Barcelona advancing with any other big signing before announcing significant progress with their financial issues but, in an ideal world, the Catalans would also like to bolster their holding midfield role. At the same time, there is uncertainty over what will happen with the full-backs.
(Alex Livesey/Getty Images)
Jules Kounde and Alejandro Balde are expected to be the starters, and all current backups are La Masia players who have not had a full first-team season yet. Barca have no natural right-back in their squad apart from 18-year-old Hector Fort.
Do they have the money for that?
Barca are still one of the biggest clubs in world football, with annual revenues of over €800million. However, the Catalan club also has one of the biggest debts in world sport, with over €1billion in liabilities.
President Joan Laporta’s attempts to deal with these debts by pulling financial ‘levers’ have provided money in previous transfer windows to strengthen the squad, while pushing the debt problems further into the future.
Right now, can they register Olmo?
Barcelona agreeing to pay €60million for Olmo might be a surprise, given the Catalan club’s very public financial issues.
La Liga is currently not allowing Barca to register any new players for the 2024-25 campaign, due to a €100million shortfall in the club’s accounts for last season, caused by the failure of their ‘Barca Studios’ lever.
As things stand, Olmo can be signed and presented as a Barca player, but not represent them in any competitive games, neither domestic nor UEFA competition.
Olmo with Pedri (Image Photo Agency/Getty Images)
Defender Inigo Martinez and centre-forward Vitor Roque are already in this limbo situation, as Barca are currently in breach of their allowed salary limit by La Liga.
There is confidence at Barca that a solution to this issue can be found, with one potentially involving a new investor taking over from German company Libero within the Barca Studios project. However, no details of how that would work have yet been made public, and it remains to be seen whether La Liga will accept the solution proposed by Laporta’s board.
This all feels quite familiar…
Barca fans (and players) are now well used to such registration dramas each summer.
In 2022, new signings including Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha and Jules Kounde were only registered for the opening La Liga game, after the still-troublesome Barca Studios lever was first pulled by the club’s board right on the eve of kick-off.
Late in last summer’s transfer window, Laporta and some fellow directors had to give personal guarantees to allow for loan signings Joao Felix and Joao Cancelo to be included in Barca’s La Liga squad for the season.
More drama seems certain now, as the club’s board look to find another solution that will be acceptable to La Liga.
How will this affect other players in the squad?
Barca’s hierarchy are currently very keen to remove some of the club’s highest earners from the wage bill, leading to uncertainty over the future of many first-team players.
Olmo’s ability to play in various positions across midfield and attack was one of the reasons his signing was so attractive to Blaugrana sporting director Deco and new coach Flick.
That also means the 26-year-old’s arrival could make squad members in different positions less important to the coach — and may make it easier to persuade them to leave.
Those who might feel under more pressure now would include wingers Raphinha and Ferran Torres, and perhaps even midfielders Gundogan and Pedri.
(Top photo: Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images)
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