Gundogan Doesn’t Help Dani Olmo | Sport

Barcelona wanted to sign Nico Williams. He couldn’t. The Athletic Bilbao striker, who will visit Montjuïc today (19:00, DAZN), kept his promise and will play in the Europa League with his brother Iñaki. Then, in the last European Cup, the Barça team chose another of Spain’s biggest names: Dani Olmo, sentimentally linked to Barça, the then RB Leipzig player was ready to wait for an offer from the club where he trained as a youth player until 2014. Of course, he could not have been unaware of the difficult economic situation in which Barcelona finds itself. So Dani Olmo is not surprised that his file has not yet managed to register in La Liga.

Neither the new Aramark leverage (40 million) nor the sale of Mika Faye to Rennes (12 million) created the necessary financial fair play. Even the departure of Ilkay Gundogan to Manchester City did not help. So Barça is looking for new (old) strategies: new leverage or new support from the coaches.

The club has long known that it is still outside the wage limit set by La Liga, due to the failure to pay Libero when it sold part of Barça Vision, the Catalan company’s audiovisual content platform. A new contract was negotiated with Nike in the Camp Nou offices to address the imbalance. However, the agreement is not yet closed. Another strategy of the club was to sell the part of Barça Vision that Libero had not paid to the catering company Aramark. This did not compensate either. So, as happened last summer with the signing of Iñigo Martínez, João Félix and João Cancelo, the club is working with La Liga to repeat the formula: the approval of president Joan Laporta.

Summer after summer, the same dilemma is repeated in Barcelona. A dilemma that even the hasty farewell to one of last season’s best players, Gundogan, did not resolve. “I am leaving in a difficult situation, but if my departure can help the club financially, it makes me feel a little less sad,” the German explained in his farewell letter on social media. Yesterday, the footballer returned to Manchester City. The round trip after his trip to Barcelona lasted only one year. The 33-year-old German (he turns 34 on October 24) agreed a one-year contract with Txiki Begiristain, the English club’s director of football. “I came here to take on a new and exciting challenge, and I was ready for it. I gave everything to fight as best I could for the team and the club in a difficult season, and I was very eager to help my teammates in the new campaign,” Gundogan said goodbye to the Barça fans.

He arrived at Barça last summer looking for a new challenge. After winning the league, Xavi Hernández’s side were looking for a qualitative leap, little better than the German, captain of the then Champions League champions, at zero cost. “I felt it was right to come here, that it was good to have the opportunity to show myself that I can play in another league, in another country,” he commented last summer, as soon as he landed at Barcelona. And it worked out well for him, especially given his individual performances after Xavi’s side were left empty last season. Gündogan scored five goals and provided 14 assists in 51 games. The numbers, in any case, were not enough. At least not for Hansi Flick, the new coach.

The coach and the footballer coincided in the German national team. He feeling There was never anything good between them. That’s why, when Flick replaced Xavi, Gundogan frowned. It didn’t take long for the technician to unveil his idea. “You won’t be important in the starting lineup. I have Pedri and Dani Olmo for that position,” the coach told him last Thursday during a speech at the Ciudad Deportiva. That same night, Gundogan called Pep Guardiola. “Can I come back?” he asked. Guardiola promised him that he would do everything in his power to make his return happen. “He wanted to help us, but this week he changed his mind. I know him and I have only good things to say about him. He’s a fantastic player and person,” Flick explained yesterday ahead of the match against Athletic. Minutes earlier, City had secured Gundogan’s return to the Etihad Stadium.

City business

A good deal for City, an economic relief for Barcelona. When Mateu Alemany, the former director of football at Barca, signed Gundogan, they both agreed to a three-year contract. However, the third year was dedicated to the number of matches the player had to play at Barca. According to the office of Joan Gamper Sports City, the German reached this number of matches last year. “Players have to go on the pitch. One of them could be Gundogan. We do not exclude that he will leave,” Barcelona said after they tied up the signing of Olmo. The problem was that the German thought otherwise. However, he began to feel pressure from the club. “He started to hear that he is fat, that he earns a lot, that he is old,” complained those around the player.

Without a protective shield in the press and the coaching staff, the best alternative was an amicable exit. Gundogan ruled out the possibility of asylum in Qatar – “I feel competitive,” he said – and agreed with Barcelona to terminate his contract, which became his weapon to convince Begiristain that City did not want to pay for the transfer. Barcelona thought it was the right thing to do. The main objective of the Barça board was to maintain the German’s salary, which is around 40 million for the next two seasons.

But Gundogan’s help was not enough to register the replacement. “It’s not my job to talk about registration. I really like the work of Dani Olmo. He is ready to play. I hope he is ready for this game. He is a fantastic player. I see it in training, under pressure,” Flick concluded. Nico Williams’ Athletic Club will visit Montjuic today, but Barcelona still do not know if they can count on Dani Olmo. Three and a half years after Laporta’s return to the presidency, nothing has changed at Barcelona.

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