Barcelona considers Chelsea’s star player as a potential solution to their Dani Olmo registration issues amid growing interest from PSG.
Christopher Nkunku’s future at Chelsea is increasingly under the spotlight, with several top European clubs reportedly interested in securing his services.
According to Graeme Bailey of TBR Football, the 27-year-old forward could leave Stamford Bridge as early as January, with his representatives exploring potential options.
Having joined Chelsea in 2023 for £52 million, Nkunku has struggled to secure a regular starting spot, fueling speculation about his future.
Reports indicate that Manchester United and Paris Saint-Germain are among the clubs monitoring his situation, raising further questions about his long-term prospects at Chelsea.
Christopher Nkunku is Plan B for Barcelona
TEAMtalk reported on Wednesday, citing sources, that Barcelona are eyeing a potential January loan move for Nkunku should they fail to register Dani Olmo.
Barcelona aims to create room for Olmo, but if the process of offloading players to accommodate him takes too long, the club could explore a loan move for Christopher Nkunku in the latter stages of the winter transfer window.
The Catalan side are looking to negotiate a loan deal for Nkunku, with part of his salary covered by Chelsea. This would allow the club to fit him into their wage structure, though they will also need to offload some players to free up additional funds. The length of the loan would be a key factor in any potential agreement.
Dani Olmo registration saga – What happens next for Barcelona?
The Spain star is currently unregistered
:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73821934/2182670899.0.jpg)
Barcelona have begun in 2025 in chaos as summer signing Dani Olmo (and Pau Victor for that matter) are currently unregistered for the rest of the season and unable to play for club.
The two players have been removed from La Liga’s website and, as things stand, it’s not known exactly what will happen next.
Barca issued a statement on New Year’s Eve to confirm they have applied for new licenses for the two players but La Liga responded by saying Barca hadn’t provided anything that “would allow it to register any player starting next January 2.”
The January 2 date is curious as the deadline was the end of 2024. There had been reports that Barca had asked for an extension, although these were quickly rebuffed.
However, there is a suggestion things may happen in the next few days. ESPN claim a source has told them: “Barça will offer a deeper explanation on their request to the RFEF and attempt to clear up the situation on Jan. 3.”
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25812894/2186952166.jpg)
Over in Spain there’s also confidence that Barca aren’t done yet. Mundo Deportivo reports that Laporta and Co think they will have received all the funds from the sale of VIP boxes by Friday and are hoping this will allow the duo to be registered.
The big problem seems to be the RFEF rules which state “a footballer may be registered in only one team of a club, without the possibility of being deregistered and re-registered by the same team during the course of the same season, except in the case of force majeure or regulatory provision.”
It seems Laporta and Barcelona are hoping they can use the “force majeure” part of that rule as a loophole to resolve the issue. However, the RFEF can’t do anything without La Liga’s approval.
And the RFEF don’t appear to want to play ball either. A source has told AS that they will side with La Liga because they feel that “Barcelona should have complied with the rules.”
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25812895/2168053880.jpg)
So what happens if Barcelona do fail? Well, Olmo’s agent has already said he wants to stay at Barcelona, even though the rumor mill is getting excited and claiming Europe’s finest would love to have him on loan.
The thing is that if Olmo does stay then he will have to spend the season on the sidelines, something that would be incredibly tough to take for any player.
Yet the alternative situation is so dire it’s not worth thinking about for Barcelona. Olmo, who cost €57 million in the summer, has a clause in his contract that lets him leave for fee if the club fail to register him – which would be a massive embarrassment and another financial disaster.
Olmo isn’t thought to be considering this scenario but you can bet clubs are looking at the situation and may well be tempted to make offers if turns out he’s already played his last game for Barcelona this season.
