Barcelona must pull ANOTHER lever to register Dani Olmo

Barcelona's attempts to register Dani Olmo have hit yet nother roadblock with further steps needed to get him ready to play.

The departure of Ilkay Gundogan on a free transfer to Man City just one year after he joined the club on a free transfer from Man City was supposed to be a ridiculous but necessary measure to allow Barcelona to freely register new signing Dani Olmo as well as any other signings.

On paper this made sense, as Gundogan was earning a substantial amount of money (over €18m a year before taxes) and saving that should be enough to register Dani Olmo who is rumoured to be on much less than that.

But now Pedro Morata reports for COPE that Gundogan's departure does not create enough financial fair play space to register Dani Olmo, and that Barcelona will need to make another sale or finally bring the Nike sponsorship renewal through in order to make the necessary room.

READ MORE: How Man City will line up with Ilkay Gundogan

La Liga's Financial Fair Play

This will come as a huge blow for Barcelona fans, who consoled themselves at losing a player of Gundogan's immense stature with the fact that it would allow them to register Dani Olmo and, in effect, "move on" very quickly.

But now, according to Morata's reporting, that isn't the case. This is because Barcelona are not yet back to the 1:1 financial fair play status (where the club can operate normally, spending €1 for every €1 they make) but are stuck in the much more restrictive 1:4 (where they can only spend €1 if they bring in €4).

READ MORE: Fabrizio Romano reveals Barcelona's next signing after Dani Olmo

This 1:4 status is designed to stop clubs with substantial debts from spending themselves into oblivion unless they have the revenue to pay those debts. It's not 100% clear how it works and it seems to be applied inconsistently depending on where your club is located within Spain, but if Barcelona are still in 1:4 then that would explain how Morata concluded that Barcelona still do not have the cap room to register Dani Olmo.

With just nine days left until the close of the transfer window, what levers does Joan Laporta have left to pull in order to register his one major signing let alone potentially add another?