Barcelona woke up optimistic, or at least that was the message from the club: Dani Olmo appeared on the list of players called up for the match against Athletic. However, next to him there was an asterisk which made it clear that his registration with La Liga was still pending. The offices assured that they were working to try to register the player in extremis. In any case, the effort was in vain. “Something paradoxical is happening to us,” said a club employee, when Olmo’s registration against Athletic was ruled out; “we have money in the box, we can sign them, but we cannot register them.”
The money that Barcelona say they have in the bank, Joan Laporta wanted to use to sign Nico Williams. But it turned out that the striker could not be moved from Bilbao, according to the nostalgic because that is what he had promised his brother Iñaki, according to the sceptics because he knew that chaos reigned in the Barça offices. A chaos that can no longer be hidden: “Barça, yes; Laporta, no,” the Barcelona fans chanted over and over again. On a Montjuïc taken over by tourists, those who pointed the finger at the president were not the majority, nor were those who were angry with Nico Williams for what they interpreted as a snub to Barcelona. If he had not done so, he would not have come out onto the pitch yesterday. That is what happened to Dani Olmo.
“We knew it could happen, whether he was there or not, this is the situation at the moment. I have to accept the things that I cannot change,” explained the German coach. At Barcelona, for their part, they are confident of being able to solve the economic puzzle. “We have an offer for Barça Vision (another one after Aramark bought a part of what Libero had stopped paying), we are waiting to solve the Nike issue and we will have the departures of Lenglet and Vitor Roque,” they explain. Barcelona’s market strategy is curious: to register a signed player, they first have to let others go, in the imminent case of Lenglet on loan to Atlético, gifted as Gündogan was to City. “When you spend a year away, you start to appreciate that place even more. You realise how great the club is: the best club in the world,” said Gündogan, a dart at Barcelona, a caress to City, which the fans appreciated.
Gündogan was welcomed like a hero. The Barça fans, however, have not yet been able to enjoy Olmo. Laporta and Nico paid for their anger. Until Lamine and Lewandowski appeared and the whistles at the Athletic president and striker turned into enthusiasm for Flick’s boys. “I saw Nico coming, who is not very intense in defence. When I found space, I shot,” Lamine explained his goal. “We played very well,” added Flick. “But,” he added, “on some occasions we lacked a bit of calm.” Calm that Lewandowski found. “He trains hard and well and presses. I know the best Lewandowski and I am seeing him here,” the German praised his striker.
In the end, Barcelona’s optimism was not in Laporta’s plans to sign Olmo or tempt Nico Williams. He was in the same place as last season: in the football of Lamine and in the goals of Lewandowski, now under the command of Flick.
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