Dani Olmo saga continues as LaLiga take Barcelona registration complaint to COURT days after Catalan giants were permitted to re-register £50m star and team-mate following controversial ruling

LaLiga are taking their sour conflict with Barcelona to court amid the fallout of the cash-strapped Catalans being permitted to register Dani Olmo and Pau Victor. 

Barcelona were finally received the green light to register Olmo for the upcoming season following a previous controversial injunction that had ocurred when they attempter to re-regisiter the former RB Leipzig signing.

Spain International Olmo joined the Blaugrana for £50million in the summer and Barcelona had been made to get creative in their efforts to make him an official player in Hansi Flick’s squad.

What was hoped would be an easy re-registration process for Olmo, the LaLiga’s stringent financial laws has hammered Barcelona’s financial crisis and the club were prevented from extending the registration for Olmo and team-mate  Victor as they had exceeded their allotted salary cap, with the added jeopardy of Olmo being able to leave for free if unregistered.  

An ugly affair concluded with the Higher Sports Council (CSD) giving them permission to temporarily register both Olmo, a target for several Premier League sides, and Pau Victor.

However, rival clubs have led fierce criticism over the decision and the league has now launched a legal battle against the CSD’s ruling.

LaLiga and the Spanish Football Federation hadn’t been allowed a chance to respond to the CSD greenlighting the Catalan duo’s resigning and are now arguing that it was mistaken due to the absence of an opportunity to defend its stance before the provisional measure was approved.

The exceptional circumstances of the case have seen the CSD defend their one-of-a-kind decision by stating the preventing of both Olmo and Victor’s registrations would cause significant harm to the players, Barcelona, and even the interests of the Spanish national team.

LaLiga are attempting to counter their stance due to the RFEF General Regulations rule that prohibits the re-registration of a player removed from a team’s squad during the same season.

A possible punishment could see the CSD’s ruling be rubbished as null and void if LaLiga are successful. 

Previously announcing their success in registering the key duo, Barcelona beamed:  ‘Good news for FC Barcelona. Dani Olmo and Pau Victor have been registered for La Liga, and are therefore available for selection by coach Hansi Flick, including for Sunday’s Spanish Super Cup Final at 8pm CET,’ a statement from Barcelona read.

On Wednesday, the Higher Sports Council (CSD) announced an injunction giving the green light for the two players to play.’

Both players will be permitted to play in LaLiga again after facing several weeks of uncertainty.

Olmo and Victor have been included in Barcelona’s Super Cup squad despite being ineligible to play, but the pair were not named in the starting line-up or among the substitutes for their semi-final with Athletic Club.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, it has proven a controversial call to permit Barca to register the two stars, with staunch rivals Atletico Madrid quick to hit out at the decision, questioning whether it subverts their aim for ‘fair competition’.

‘Atletico de Madrid wishes to express its deep concern about the situation in Spanish football following the resolution adopted this Wednesday by the Higher Sports Council. We believe that this decision puts the current system in jeopardy, questioning the rules of the game,’ said Los Colchoneros. 

‘The Sports Law itself includes and protects the economic control of LaLiga, but with this resolution it is put at risk. The economic control of LaLiga has been the main tool that has managed to turn our football into a solvent sector, a process admired internationally.

‘Our club, like all LaLiga members until this resolution, has been complying with the rules of economic control and will continue to do so. In fact, in order to compete at the level we have been doing in recent years, we have decided to carry out various capital increases, despite the enormous effort that this entails.

‘This government intervention creates a very dangerous precedent, as it opens the door to breaking the rules and making the same serious mistakes of the past. Atletico de Madrid remains committed to rigour and responsible management. Without clear and equal rules for all, fair competition is not possible.’

Last week, Barcelona revealed their plans to file a complaint after both LaLiga and the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) rejected their latest attempt to re-register the duo, and they subsequently took the matter to court. 

The CSD said that not adopting the precautionary measure would ’cause serious economic and sporting harm to the club and, above all, to the players’, as well as ‘harming the interests of the Spanish national team’ and LaLiga.

The CSD’s verdict also does not mean that Olmo and Victor will be eligible for the rest of the season. Instead, the ruling is a recognition that Barcelona’s appeal, which was lodged in the form of a 52-page document, has a sound legal basis.

Now, the body has a period of up to three months to study the case before making a final opinion. Olmo and Victor will be able to play as normal in the meantime. 

The saga of Olmo’s re-registration may however have repercussions moving forward, though. 

On Tuesday, Barcelona forward Raphinha warned that the issues surrounding Olmo’s could put future transfer targets off from joining.

‘I can’t say the opposite because I would lie otherwise,’ Raphinha added.