Olmo was left in legal limbo until January 8th when the Spanish government's Consejo Superior de Deportes (CSD) upheld Barca's urgent injunction to allow him and Pau Victor to be registered.
The CSD argued that the non-adoption of this precautionary measure "would cause serious economic and sporting damage to the club and, above all, to the players", and furthermore, that "this could also damage the interests of the Spanish national team".
Thus, Dani Olmo has been able to play (and win) with Barcelona in the final of the Spanish Super Cup, held in Saudi Arabia against Real Madrid.
LaLiga battling against him
However, LaLiga has publicly expressed its opposition to the measure of the Consejo Superior de Deportes. Presided over by Javier Tebas, it is not known at the moment whether they will be acting in conjunction with the RFEF or alone, and are considering lodging an appeal with the administrative court in order to have the precautionary measure against the two players rescinded.
In addition, other clubs have protested, through their presidents or through official communications against the precautionary registration granted by the CSD, due to the arbitrariness with which, they consider, the decision has been taken. This is the case of Atletico Madrid, Athletic Bilbao, Valladolid, Espanyol, Las Palmas and Valencia.
Curiously, Real Madrid have not made a statement. Their eternal rivals have preferred to remain silent, perhaps due to the good harmony of both directives with the background of the European Super League.
So Olmo was on the verge of being released in January, but Barca's efforts and the government's decision have ended up saving the day.
An atypical career
Olmo's career has been atypical, to say the least. He joined Barcelona's youth academy in 2007 from Espanyol, but left the club in 2014 for Croatia.
He spent five and a half seasons at Dinamo Zagreb (the first two alternating between the first team and the reserve team), won nine titles and became a key player at the club. Olmo is also fluent in Croatian.
He was unknown to the Spanish public until he took part in the 2019 European Under-21 Championship in Italy and San Marino, which ended in victory for Luis de la Fuente's side. Olmo scored in the semi-final against France and in the final against Germany. But it wasn't until he made his senior debut that his name really began to resonate with the general public.
In January 2020, he decided to join Leipzig. He spent four and a half years in Germany, making 148 appearances, scoring 29 goals and providing 30 assists. He also won two German Cups and a German Supercup.
A symbol of the national team
But, without a doubt, the best moments of Dani Olmo's career have come with the Spanish national team, with whom he made his debut in 2019. 2021 was an important year, as it was the year of the European Championships and the Olympic Games.
He reached the semi-finals of the European Championships, enjoying the confidence of Luis Enrique, as he played in five matches. At the Tokyo Games, he won the silver medal. He was a key member of De la Fuente's team and opened the scoring in the quarter-final against the Ivory Coast.
A year later, he would play his first World Cup in Qatar. Despite Spain's poor showing, losing to Morocco on penalties in the Round of 16, Olmo played in all four games and scored Luis Enrique's side's first goal of the tournament. The goal opened the scoring in the 7-0 thrashing of Costa Rica.
However, his fortunes with the national team were to change dramatically. In 2023, he won his first title, the Nations League, after Spain defeated Croatia on penalties.
His crowning glory came at EURO 2024 in Germany.
Spain swept the tournament and won their fourth title. Olmo was an essential player for Luis de la Fuente, who had known him for years. The player from Tarrasa was included in the team of the tournament (along with Cucurella, Rodri, Ruiz, Yamal and Williams) and was also the top scorer.
He scored three goals, in the knockout stages against Georgia (round of 16), Germany (quarter-finals) and France (semi-finals) and shared the award with Schranz, Mikautadze, Musiala, Gakpo and Kane.
Barcelona move
Dani Olmo returned to Barcelona in the summer of 2024, exactly 10 years after leaving the club. He made his debut giving Hansi Flick's side the winning goal against Rayo and scored in his first three games, as he also found the net against Valladolid and Girona. Afterwards, he suffered a muscular injury in his right leg that kept him out for seven games.
Against Espanyol, he put in his best performance, with a brace that sealed the Blaugrana's victory in the Barcelona derby. In the Champions League, he scored against Brest and assisted Raphinha in Dortmund.
To date, he has played in 17 games in all four competitions, scoring six goals and providing three assists, the last two of which came on Wednesday in the Copa against Betis. Having overcome all the problems related to his registration (for the moment), Dani Olmo can focus exclusively on what he loves most: playing football.
Follow Barcelona's trip to Getafe in LaLiga on Saturday evening with Flashscore