Manchester United are among the many clubs interested in signing Dani Olmo on a free transfer after Barcelona's last attempt to sign the player for the second half of the season was rejected by La Liga.
Olmo joined Barcelona from RB Leipzig this summer for around £50 million and was only allowed to register until the end of 2024 due to his new club's ongoing financial problems. In 15 appearances so far this season, Olmo has scored six goals and Barcelona have desperately tried to sign him after 2024 but have now had two attempts and an appeal rejected.
La Liga released a statement on Tuesday evening saying: “FC Barcelona has not presented any alternative that would allow it, in accordance with La Liga's economic control rules, to register players after January 2.”
However, Barcelona have not given up: the club has announced that they have “applied for a new license” with the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) to register Olmo and his teammate Pau Victor.
It remains to be seen whether they will be successful and a number of clubs are monitoring the situation, with recent reports stating that United, Manchester City, Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Tottenham, Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich are all interested in Olmo's services.
United are in need of reinforcements, with Red Devils boss Ruben Amorim admitting there is a “possibility” of his side being relegated if their poor form continues. However, Amorim has no money to spend in January unless players are sold first. When asked about the possibility of strengthening his squad in January, Amorim admitted: “We won't have that opportunity in January if we don't [sell] some players. So you know the situation better than I do.
“So it's not like I come here and I can spend a lot of money on changing the whole team. You know the situation, so there's no point in talking about it.”
It is no surprise that Olmo's situation is of interest to United as he could leave as a free agent if Barcelona cannot register him and the Red Devils are sorely lacking in attacking power.
However, Olmo's agent Andy Bara has insisted that the player wants to stay at Barcelona, saying: “I can announce that Dani's decision is to STAY at Barcelona. We are not considering any other option or club, Dani Olmo wants to play for.” Barça and its desire are very clear.”
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