Barcelona lose another appeal to register Olmo

Barcelona have lost another appeal for the precautionary registration of Dani Olmo for the rest of the season on Monday, one day before the deadline to register the Spanish international.

Barcelona signed Olmo in August for around 55 million euros ($57.22 million) but with the club unable to meet LaLiga's wage cap, the attacking midfielder was registered for the first half of the season only.

The four-month allowance is set to expire at the end of the month.

The club managed to register Olmo after long-term injuries kept first team players out of the squad for months, allowing Barca to allocate a portion of their wages to register the 26-year-old, along with forward Pau Victor.

On Friday, the Commercial Court number 10 of Barcelona rejected the club's request to provisionally register Olmo, and the Court of First Instance number 47 of Barcelona has agreed with that ruling on Monday.

According to LaLiga, the court rejected the precautionary registration of Olmo, since none of the necessary prerequisites for the adoption of the precautionary measure were met.

LaLiga also defended the competence of its Delegate Commission to approve its budgeting rules, and that this has never been questioned by any club, including Barcelona.

The initial decision to not register Olmo was taken by LaLiga's Budget Validation Body.

That decision was then confirmed in three separate appeals by its Financial Fair Play Committee, its Social Appeals Committee and by the Uefa Second Instance Licensing Committee of the Spanish Football Federation.

Barcelona then decided on the judicial route but now face a race against time to find an alternative plan.

Spanish media reports say that Barcelona are planning to use the sale of VIP boxes at the Camp Nou stadium which could bring in over 100 million euros, which will need the approval of LaLiga. Reuters has contacted the club for comment.

Barcelona are third in the LaLiga standings, three points behind leaders Atletico Madrid, and their next game is a Copa del Rey round of 32 tie away to fourth-tier Barbastro on Saturday.