Man Utd and Man City could land shock free transfer deal months after £50m move

Manchester City and Manchester United could take advantage of Barcelona’s financial predicament by landing one of Spain’s Euro 2024-winning squad on a free transfer.

The issues suffered by the Catalan giants have been widely reported in recent seasons and there was a further blow on Friday as Mundo Deportivo reported Barca’s attempts to register midfielder Dani Olmo for the second half of the season had been rejected by the Commercial Court of Barcelona. The 41-times capped Spain international joined Barca in a £50m deal from RB Leipzig during the summer transfer window but was only granted an emergency registration after former Chelsea defender Andreas Christensen picked up a long-term injury.

Speaking at the time, Olmo told reporters: "I very much want to get started. These days have been intense, but everything happened so fast and I will forever be grateful to Leipzig. We're giving it everything we've got in this new stage."

After marking his debut with a goal in a 2-1 win at Rayo Vallecano, Olmo has gone on to six goals and provide one assist in 15 appearances in all competitions as Hansi Flick’s side sit in third place in the La Liga table and in second place in the new look Champions League table. His hopes of taking part in the bid for success during the second half of the campaign were hit by the court’s decision - and a clause in his deal could well offer several suitors an opportunity to land Olmo on a free transfer and bring a quickfire end to his stay with Barcelona.

A report from the Daily Mail has suggested Olmo’s priority is to remain with Barcelona - but also suggested the current situation has forced his agent, Andy Bara, to consider moves elsewhere and he has now started to ‘begin exploring potential moves’ for the 26-year-old. Even more intriguingly, Bara flew to Manchester earlier this week and was said to have attended City’s Boxing Day draw with Everton. When contacted by the Mail, he said: “Yes, it is correct I am in Manchester. I am here on holidays.”