The League title celebrated by the team and the Barça fans has given way to a struggle for power in the Barça club chaired by Joan Laporta. The different circumstances suggest that the responsibility for the sporting plot will surely fall from now on the couple formed by Deco and Mateu Alemany as a substitute for the duo formed by Alemany himself and Jordi Cruyff. The news is at the expense of being confirmed by Alemany.
A surprising change of script if one takes into account that Barcelona announced on May 2 that Alemany, director of football, would leave the entity on June 30 to work with Aston Villa. Alemany has changed his mind -according to spokesmen for the Barça club-, one day after the same club communicated that Jordi Cruyff was not renewing his contract as sports director and, therefore, on June 30 he will leave Barça.
It does not seem that Jordi Cruyff’s decision is linked to that of Alemany in the same way that, on the other hand, it is unknown if the attitude of both, or of either of them, is conditioned by the appearance of the figure of Deco. The point is that Alemany seems willing to reconsider his departure from the Camp Nou after announcing on April 29, before the match against Betis: “It’s going to be an interesting summer.”
Laporta’s commitment to Deco forces a reformulation of Barça’s sports organization chart. The president has already explained that the Brazilian’s profile reminds him of Txiki Begiristain when he served as technical secretary in his first term between 2003 and 2010. Like Txiki, who had Raúl Sanllehí as a collaborator, Deco needs an influential administrative executive . And few have the ascendant of Alemany.
Sources close to Aston Villa confirmed that Alemany had finally ruled out joining the English club coached by Unai Emery and was therefore willing to fulfill the contract he has with Barcelona until 2024. The economic conditions would be the same and his powers would remain to be finalized with Deco’s entrance. Negotiations with the different parties have started today at the Camp Nou.
Alemany informed President Laporta of his decision and later met with Deco. The sports director’s argument is that he feels particularly involved in the project that has led the team to win the League and his intention is to give it more scope in different areas of Barça. The priority is to get the League to accept the feasibility plan proposed by the club and to register Araujo and Gavi.
Alemany, who maintains a very good relationship with Javier Tebas, president of the LFP, has been a key executive in closing most sports operations since his arrival at the Camp Nou in 2021. The sports director declined any manifestation while waiting to define his task at the club after the departure of Jordi Cruyff and Deco emerging as the strong man of Barcelona.
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