FC Barcelona: Dani Olmo has already seduced everyone

The icing on the cake. Last summer, Barça experienced a very complicated summer transfer window, with only two recruits: Pau Victor, returning to Barcelona after a one-year loan with Barça B the previous season, then Dani Olmo, after a Euro 2024 particularly successful. The versatile player from Leipzig, capable of playing in the middle, on one side, as a number 10 or up front, still raised some doubts among Barcelona observers. For example, many would have preferred to see Nico Williams arrive, the Basque having a profile that Barça needed more, according to them. There were also some concerns over Olmo’s recurring injury problems.

But a few months later, doubts gave way to admiration and satisfaction despite this injury which kept him away from the field for a month. This weekend again, the man who left La Masia for Zagreb when he was 16 performed quite well, with a double against neighbor Espanyol. With five goals scored in five La Liga games, the 26-year-old has an immediate contribution and is already getting along wonderfully with his new partners. The Barça DNA will be said by some, or the presence of many Spanish internationals in this Barça will be said by others, but one thing is certain, Dani Olmo is already like a fish in water in this team.

Places are expensive

Well supervised by Hansi Flick who offers him a certain freedom while giving him numerous instructions from the sidelines, Olmo has a special talent that very few players have: that of always being well positioned between the lines to appear right when it is badly, like his first goal yesterday. And with teammates of Lamine Yamal’s level, obviously, it hits the mark more easily. Still, in the long term, the question of his presence in the starting eleven will arise. The attacking trio Lamine Yamal-Lewandowski-Raphinha is indisputable, while in the middle, the Pedri-Casado duo is untouchable. Which leaves only one place available, with many candidates: Dani Olmo, Gavi, Frenkie de Jong or Fermin Lopez.

Dani Olmo has a certain advantage compared to his competitors: he can play in all positions, apart from that of midfielder with a more defensive profile, occupied by Casado, which offers him enormous possibilities and to be the first choice everywhere. case of injury to an attacker. While a fairly intense schedule awaits Hansi Flick’s team in the coming months, all Barça players will have their chance to show their worth, but Dani Olmo has already scored points, and not just a little. At the same time, management will have to look into the subject of its registration for the second part of the season…