FC Barcelona have made official this Friday the signing of Dani Olmo as a new Barça player. The Catalan midfielder has signed a contract until 2030 for a transfer fee of around 60 million euros, including variables, and a buyout clause of 500 million, which will mark his return to the club where he was formed as a player. This was before the Croatian side Dinamo Zagreb acquired his services in August 2014.
Olmo arrives from Leipzig, a club where he has been playing since January 2020 and with which he won two German cups and a Super Cup. The player born in Terrassa has also had a successful career at the national team level, being part of the team managed by Luis de la Fuente that lifted the last European Championship in Berlin, a competition in which the new Barça signing was the top scorer, with three goals.
In the statement announcing the signing, FC Barcelona highlighted Olmo’s “versatility”, a player “difficult to fit into a single position”. Throughout his career, the Spanish international has mainly played as an attacking midfielder, but has also been seen playing as an inside midfielder, a winger or even as a false nine. This versatility on the pitch aims to guarantee Olmo minutes in a squad that boasts a robust midfield inventory, with players such as De Jong, Pedri, Gündogan, Gavi or Fermín competing for two or three places in the starting eleven.
Olmo, who will wear the number 20, becomes the first major signing of the Hansi Flick era, a coach with whom he coincided, as rivals, during his time in the Bundesliga. This does not include the signing of Pau Víctor, a 22-year-old player from Girona who has been one of the revelations of the Barça preseason.
FC Barcelona has thus begun to strengthen its squad for the next season. The Catalan club has not hidden its interest in the Spanish international Nico Williams, who Athletic Bilbao has asked not to travel with the rest of the squad to face the last pre-season match in Stuttgart, something that has fueled speculation about his future. However, the Bilbao club also shared a video on its X account on August 6 in which Nico mentioned being “back” and “really looking forward to this season”, in an exchange of encrypted messages that have only made one of the soap operas of the summer even bigger.
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