Friday, 16 August 2024

Olmo to miss Barcelona opener

 

Barcelona coach Hansi Flick has said new signing Dani Olmo is not fit enough to take part in Saturday's LaLiga opener at Valencia amid ongoing doubts about when he will be registered with the league.

Olmo, 26, joined Barça this summer for an initial fee of €55 million ($60.4m) from RB Leipzig and trained with the team for the first time last Saturday.

"At the moment, Dani is not in the right fitness for the game against Valencia," Flick said in a news conference ahead of his first competitive game in charge of Barça.

"He is not an option. He started very late to the preseason preparation and now we take care of him. For us, it's important that all the players playing have no injuries, that's the most important thing."

Olmo may not have been able to play even if he was fit with his signing still not registered with LaLiga.

The Catalan club remain in excess of their annual spending cap and until they raise money -- either through transfers or new revenue streams -- are not able to inscribe the Spain international with the league.

Pau Victor, a new arrival from Girona, also find themselves in a similar position to Olmo ahead of the match at Mestalla as Barça rush to ensure Flick has as many players available as possible. Iñigo Martínez, who was only registered for one year last summer, was registered only on Friday.

"We cannot change anything about that," Flick added when pressed on Barça's problems registering all their players before the first game of the campaign for the third season running.

"No excuses, no complaining, it's just about the now. I made many experiences in my past and I arrived here with this situation. I accept what I cannot change. And this is it."

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