Barcelona close in on €120m solution to Dani Olmo registration debacle | OneFootball

Barcelona are reportedly on the cusp of agreeing a €120m deal which will theoretically allow the Catalans to register Dani Olmo for the remainder of the season.

Olmo only arrived in the summer, returning to his boyhood club in a €55m (£45.6m) transfer 11 years after leaving the academy in search of first-team opportunities. Mired in a perilous financial situation over recent years, Barcelona have been locked in an on-going battle with La Liga's strict economic regulations.

Hansi Flick was only able to call upon his new attacking midfielder from the third week of the season. The club found room within their allotted salary limits after an injury to Andreas Christensen allowed them to use 80% of the Dane's wages to accommodate Olmo.

That short-term fix was due to expire on 31 December. Barcelona desperately appealed to the city's commercial court to extend the deadline, affording them more time to raise the necessary funds, but had that request rejected on Friday. As a glut of Premier League clubs circled Olmo, who would become a free agent in January if no agreement was reached before the end of 2024, Barcelona appear to have found a last-minute salvation.

Dani Olmo has scored six goals for Barcelona this season / Alex Caparros/GettyImages

Club president Joan Laporta has lined up a deal to sell the future rights to VIP seating at Camp Nou for the next 20 years in exchange for around €120m (£100m), according to the Spanish publication SPORT.

The buyer is vaguely named as a "Qatari fund" and has already signed a contract which is still awaiting Laporta's penmanship. The Barcelona boss is thought to be waiting "until the last minute" - i.e. the deadline of 31 December - to ensure that everything is in place for Olmo's future.

La Liga have been kept abreast of the negotiations in the hope of avoiding another surprise ruling. Barcelona thought they had opened up the necessary funds to register Olmo - and striker Pau Victor, whose future is hanging in the balance - when agreeing a lucrative Nike contract earlier this month, only to be told that they were still short.

Barcelona followed up their failed bid of an extension to the Olmo case by filing another lawsuit against La Liga - this time with the court of instruction number one. The resolution is expected on Monday, 30 December, but would be meaningless if Barcelona finalise the seating deal.

The expected nine-figure windfall should not only ensure that Olmo can continue playing for Barcelona in 2025, but will afford the club greater flexibility in the coming transfer windows. If the deal is as reported, the Catalan giants will have finally achieved "1:1" - the financial threshold which allows them to spend a euro for every euro they earn.

Olmo, for his part, has never shown a whisper of worry and was the first out on the pitch for Barcelona's public training session on 29 December.