EURO 2024 winner Dani Olmo will remain stuck in limbo even if Ilkay Gundogan returns to former side Manchester City as a free agent.
There were hopes Gundogan’s last-minute exit could help Barcelona free up the wage bill and allow them to finally register Olmo.
Despite Olmo joining from Leipzig for £51m this summer, the club cannot officially register the Spain international.
Olmo is therefore restricted to training and cannot play any minutes for Barca until a registered player leaves the club.
The Spanish giants can sign players but no new arrivals can be catalogued with La Liga as they are in breach of their league salary limit, which is calculated according to club revenue.
Barca are reportedly keen to sell up to nine-players to cut the wage bill, including third highest earner Gundogan, who nets £17m per year.
But Barca will not be in a position to register Olmo even after Gundogan’s pending departure, according to Sport.
City have agreed terms with Gundogan ahead of a dramatic return to the Etihad Stadium.
The German midfielder, 33, met old boss Pep Guardiola at TAST Restaurant in Manchester on Wednesday night.
The report does indicate that Barca could be able to register OImo if they manage to offload at least another star player.
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Other stars on the chopping block include 22-year-old right-back Julian Araujo, Clement Lenglet and Mikayil Faye.
While former Leeds star Raphinha is not exempt from being ditched within a year of signing and former Brighton loanee Ansu Fati could be departing.
Promising Brazilian youngster Vitor Roque is set to be offloaded to Lazio and did not feature in their 2-1 win over Valencia on the weekend.
Fans were concerned that academy products Lamine Yamal, Pau Cubarsi and Hector Fort could not be registered.
But Euro 2024 superstar Yamal, 17, was officially added to the first-team squad last month to calm theories surrounding an exit.
Meanwhile City have have seen off rival interest from Turkish sides Fenerbahce and Galatasaray for Gundogan.
His exit comes just over a year after he left for Barcelona following seven years in the Premier League.
The treble winner also announced his international retirement from Germany duty after winning 82 caps and scoring 19 goals for his country.
