‘If Barcelona were a company, it would have gone bankrupt; they hate Madrid's success’.

Ronald de Boer, a former Dutch player, is a regular analyst on Dutch press panels. He played for Ajax for most of his career, but also played for Twente, Rangers and Barcelona. He played for the 'Cules' in the 1998-1999 and 1999-2000 seasons. This week, when asked about the situation of the Catalans, who have been granted a precautionary measure to register Dani Olmo and Pau Victor, he was very critical.

"It is extremely sad that a club as beautiful as Barcelona is still allowed to do these tricks. Coming from where they were once, even wearing UNICEF on their shirts.... Other clubs are playing by the rules, trying to survive, but Barcelona are allowed to get away with it all the time, which is quite crazy. If tehey were a company, they would have filed for bankruptcy," he said.

"It's ridiculous. It's become a soap opera. The only thing he wants is to continue competing with Madrid and they hate the fact that Madrid continue to achieve success", he added. His words have hurt the Catalan giants, who expected more respect or, at least, more impartiality from an ex-footballer who defended their crest for two years. During his time in Spain, he won one La Liga title, that of 1999.

Ronald de Boer is not the only critical voice on the ‘Olmo case’. The main ones have been those of numerous clubs, coaches and players from the Spanish first and second tiers who do not understand the wide margins that the CSD has provided when, in other situations, there has not been this laxity.