Barcelona’s appeal to register Dani Olmo to play for the rest of the season has been rejected, which could mean the Spain international is unable to play for the club beyond January 1.

The 26-year-old joined Barca from RB Leipzig in August for a reported 60million euros (£51million), but the Catalan club could only register him for the first half of the season as they struggled to meet LaLiga’s wage restrictions.

With a number of players hit by long-term injuries in the summer, Barcelona were eventually able to reallocate some of their wages in order to get Olmo into the squad, but that registration expires next week.

On Friday, a Spanish court rejected an appeal to extend the arrangement for the rest of the campaign.

A LaLiga statement said: “LaLiga has today learned of the ruling… rejecting the request for the provisional registration of Dani Olmo until June 30, 2025, on the grounds that none of the necessary conditions for the adoption of an interim measure have been met.

“The ruling also stresses that ‘the purpose of allowing additional spending is so that a long-term injury does not weaken the team’s competitiveness, not to use a long-term injury to allow the registration of players whose salaries exceed the limit, which is what FC Barcelona is attempting’.”

According to Spanish media, Barcelona have filed an appeal which is due to be heard on Monday.

Olmo, a former Barcelona youth player who left for Dinamo Zagreb as a 16-year-old, has scored six goals in 15 appearances for the club.

He was part of Spain’s Euro 2024 winning squad in the summer.