Barcelona's most embarrassing episode yet: Dani Olmo registration farce threatens to further undermine Blaugrana's unravelling campaign

Olmo is a talented footballer. He proved that at Euro 2024, where he came into a strong Spain side because of an unfortunate injury to Pedri - and made Luis de la Fuente's team even better. Nonetheless, Barca's decision to commit €103 million (£85m/$106m) to signing him from RB Leipzig, in wages and transfer fee, raised an awful lot of eyebrows in Spain.

From a purely sporting perspective, Olmo wasn't a player that Barca particularly needed. They had other, more problematic positions to fill. However, it was the financial aspect of the transfer that made no sense at all because, at the time, Barca were still in excess of their Liga-imposed annual spending limit.

Laporta and sporting director Deco insisted that Barca could afford such an outlay and still adhere to the Spanish top-flight's strict financial regulations. They were convinced that they could raise enough money via player departures before the close of the summer transfer window to make room for Olmo - but they were wrong.

The only reason that the Catalans were able to register the attacking midfielder - two games into the new season - was a long-term injury to defender Andreas Christensen that freed up sufficient space for Olmo within Barca's salary cap.

It was only ever a temporary emergency measure, though, and while the fit-again Christensen reappeared on La Liga's website on January 1 as a registered Barcelona player, Olmo's profile was removed.

Barca were essentially given an additional four months to balance their books, and Laporta and Deco repeatedly declared during the first half of the season that Olmo - and fellow summer signing Pau Victor - would be registered before the December 31, 2024 deadline without any problems.

When Deco was once again asked on December 12 how Barca intended to register Olmo, the visibly irritated Portuguese told Movistar, "These are internal issues at the club. But don't worry, we'll fix it. The player is calm, don't worry."

La Liga president Javier Tebas also issued a positive update at the time. "I hope Barca manage it. I am positive they will. They are working on it and I am optimistic," Tebas told reporters. "At the end of the day, they always manage it."

On this particular occasion, though, the outcome is very much still hanging in the balance.

Laporta claimed in September that Barcelona could have achieved La Liga's desired 1:1 ratio between a club's net debt and revenue had they signed a new deal with Nike - but explained that he wasn't happy with the terms of the proposed deal.

However, even after belatedly agreeing an extension with the kit manufacturer in November, Barca still weren't in a position to register Olmo and thus tried to resolve the matter in court.

The club attempted to procure a precautionary registration measure for both Olmo and Victor in the final week of December, but their case was dismissed, and so too was the subsequent appeal on December 27.

"La Liga has today learned of the ruling... rejecting the request for the provisional registration of Dani Olmo until June 30, 2025, on the grounds that none of the necessary conditions for the adoption of an interim measure have been met," read a statement issued by the governing body.

"The ruling also stresses that 'the purpose of allowing additional spending is so that a long-term injury does not weaken the team's competitiveness, not to use a long-term injury to allow the registration of players whose salaries exceed the limit, which is what FC Barcelona is attempting'."

According to widespread reports, Barcelona agreed to sell VIP seats at the new Camp Nou for the next 20 years to a Qatari fund for €100m (£83m/$103m) in the final days of 2024 in a desperate, last-ditch attempt to meet La Liga's rules and, on December, 31, the club confirmed that it had "applied for a new license for the players Daniel Olmo and Pau Víctor to the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF)".

However, no players can be registered without prior approval from La Liga, who issued their own statement just a few hours before the deadline claiming that Barca "have not provided any alternative that, in compliance with La Liga’s economic control regulations, would allow them to register any player as of January 2".

So, where does that leave Olmo and Victor now? In limbo essentially, as they can't even go out on loan if they're officially unregistered. Olmo can activate the clause in his contract that entitles him to leave on a free transfer in the event of Barca failing to secure him a license, although his agent says that the Spain international no intention of playing for anyone else, as it was always his dream to return to his childhood club.

In addition, Barca reportedly remain confident that the VIP seats deal will eventually lead to both men being cleared to play, with further updates expected on Friday, January 3.

However, the Blaugrana are essentially now counting upon La Liga bending their own rules, as clubs are not allowed to register players twice in the same season and it's clear that the deadline for meeting the financial requirements was not met, meaning there could be a serious backlash from the other teams in the Spanish top-flight if Barca are given what could be perceived as special treatment.

What's clear, though, is that even if Barca do manage to get both Olmo and Victor back on the field for the conclusion of the 2024-25 campaign, the whole sorry affair has only further tarnished the club's reputation, and severely weakened Laporta's position as president.

"We want to express our total indignation and shame caused by the management of Joan Laporta and the board of directors regarding the registrations of Dani Olmo and Pau Victor, and we demand his resignation," supporters group Som un Clam said in a statement. "What we have experienced in the last hours of 2024 shows that the vicious circle in which the club's governing team has entered has fully exploded. Sooner than even imaginable, amateur and erratic management is beginning to affect the sporting performance of the first team, which could be deprived of two of its signings."

Its a fair point. Hansi Flick's team started to unravel just before the winter break, blowing a massive lead in La Liga in the process, and the possible unavailability of Olmo and Victor will hardly help ease the strain on an already overstretched squad.

According to Sport, Laporta has no intention of stepping down but Font is among the figures close to the club very blatantly attempting to make his position untenable.

"We cannot accept how the president of Barcelona, Joan Laporta, has handled this issue," the 2021 presidential candidate wrote on social media. "We demand the board and the president explain their actions and the consequences in detail, including:

"Why did we sign such an expensive player if we were already over the Fair Play limits and had no clear plan to fix it? Why did we take legal action if we knew it wouldn’t work, as the court rulings have shown? What is the club doing now to ensure we don’t lose Olmo and Pau Victor? What is the truth about the sale of Camp Nou’s VIP seats? Have they been sold? To which investors and under what terms?"

Font may well be motivated by the potential for personal gain, but these are all valid questions that Laporta needs to answer - and fast. He claimed only last February that "the darkest period" in the club's history was almost over and yet the future looks as bleak as ever, with Barcelona both broke and broken going into a new year.