Barcelona might have brought Dani Olmo to Catalonia on the back of an impressive Euro 2024 campaign but the Spanish giants continue to struggle to register their marquee summer signing.
The 26-year-old was signed from RB Leipzig after scoring three goals and assisting an additional two to help Spain win the European Championship. However, despite costing a whopping $60M, the Blaugrana have been unable to register him due to financial reasons.
As a result, the club are desperately trying to move on players to lower the wage bill. This explains Ilkay Gundogan's abrupt departure despite his impressive debut campaign in Catalonia last season.
Laporta and Co. went as far as terminating his contract and foregoing a transfer fee just to get the German's wages off the books. Unfortunately, Barcelona are still above their spending limit and, according to ESPN, the club are unlikely to register Olmo in time for Tuesday's clash with Rayo Vallecano.
"I always hope, but it's like it is," Flick said in his press conference in response to questions surrounding the Olmo situation.
"It will be great to have him in the team against Rayo, but we will see what happens. This is a thing the player or the coach cannot control.
"We both know, we spoke also about the situation, we know it's a little bit difficult here in Barcelona.
"I believe in the club and I think we can put him on a list [soon] and hopefully it's for the match tomorrow."
All clubs in La Liga have a spending limit. However, Barcelona have carried on sanctioning major signings despite their recent woes and have now found themselves on the wrong side of their limit.
This means the club must either decrease the wage bill or increase revenue. Both can be achieved by selling players, but with the summer transfer window closing on August 30 in many major European leagues, it will be interesting to see how Joan Laporta tackles this latest hurdle.
