Barcelona midfielder Gavi is set to have his status returned to that of an academy player at Camp Nou. This La Liga ruling is the latest instalment of a long-running financial dispute over the registration of the new contract he agreed back in September, as the Athletic reports.
This development means he will be allowed to leave on a free transfer this summer, as a release clause enabling him to depart for nothing comes back into effect. It won't prohibit Gavi playing as normal for the Catalan club, but does come as a major blow in their efforts to retain the sought-after star.
However, Barcelona will reportedly appeal the court ruling and take further legal action on the matter. In the meantime, the 18-year-old's shirt number will revert to his old number 30 from the six he currently dons.
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The issue stems from La Liga deeming the current league leaders to be in excess of their spending limit beyond the end of the season, leading to the refusal of Gavi's new contract. Gavi signed an extension to his deal with the Spanish giants until 2026 in September. At this point though, the Spain international was still registered as an academy player.
The new contract featured a clause enabling him to leave for free if Barcelona had not registered him as a first-team player by June 30, 2023. Upgrading a player to first-team status can only be made during a transfer window, with this season's two windows now firmly behind us.
Barca weren't able to complete this change by late-January as La Liga stipulated it could not be done with the club in breach of their salary limit rules and needing to cut as much as €200 million from their outgoings ahead of next season. Things started to get ugly as the club seeked a legal ruling without the league's knowledge in an attempt to force the competition body to register Gavi as a first-team player.
The Catalan outfit were successful in their legal bid, during which they claimed the league's decision to reject Gavi's case was part of “a harassment campaign”. On the final day of the January transfer window, a temporary injunction was ordered by a Barcelona court to force La Liga to register the midfielder as a first-team player.
Meanwhile, the club was given 20 working days to file a separate case, with documents ultimately filed by Barcelona on March 2. However, La Liga claimed they had missed the deadline to do so by a day, and duly challenged their submission.
Last week, the court agreed with La Liga's claim and gave Barcelona five days to respond before a final resolution would be made over Gavi's registration. On Tuesday, the court had reportedly made a final ruling to lift the temporary injunction and would revert Gavi back to academy status.
As they continue to claim they filed the necessary paperwork on time, Barcelona are said to be intent on appealing further. Should he be made a free agent this summer, there will undoubtedly be a queue of clubs lining up to swoop in for the Golden Boy award winner, who has been a Barca ever-present since breaking into the team in 2021. Arsenal will likely be among the clubs monitoring the situation.
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