Is Dani Olmo playing for Barcelona against Rayo Vallecano in LaLiga today?

Barcelona are one of only two teams, along with Celta Vigo, who won their first two LaLiga games of the new season, although their start to the campaign has been somewhat overshadowed by their inability to register summer signing Dani Olmo to play.

The Euro 2024 winner, signed for €60 million ($67 million) from RB Leipzig, has been forced to watch on from the sidelines so far as Hansi Flick’s side secured 2-1 victories over both Valencia and Athletic Club.

Matchday three takes place this midweek, with Barça already back in action away to Rayo Vallecano on Tuesday. This time, however, Olmo is set to make his first-team debut for the club, where he previously spent seven years in the academy between 2007 and 2014.

The Catalans had been unable to register the 26-year-old with LaLiga as they had exceeded their spending limit imposed by the league. In order to change that, they need to raise more funds, with getting players off the wage bill the easiest way of doing so.

How have Barcelona been able to register Dani Olmo?

Ilkay Gündogan, Vitor Roque and Clément Lenglet have all departed in the last few days, although, according to ESPN, Olmo’s registration has actually been made possible by defender Andreas Christensen suffering a long-term Achilles injury, which is expected to keep him out of action for around four months.

Article 77 of LaLiga’s Regulations for the Preparation of Budgets states a club can exceed the limit if one member of the roster is sidelined for a lengthy period of time.

As a result, Barcelona have been able to use 80% of Christensen’s salary towards temporarily registering another player, in this case Olmo. More work is still required to register the attacker permanently, although he will be available to play in Vallecas and for as long as the Danish centre-back is absent.