Barcelona are set for an important next two weeks off the pitch, with the club still keen to bolster Xavi’s squad despite their financial struggles.
Wednesday’s news that sporting director Mateu Alemany is set to leave his role once the transfer window closes, therefore, came as something of a shock. Xavi did not know the announcement was coming and it came as a surprise to the dressing room, too.
Alemany had already decided to leave Barca earlier this summer, before performing a U-turn on a move to Aston Villa. But this time his impending departure seems definitive and Deco has been confirmed as the one who will now take over full responsibility for the club’s recruitment strategy.
It has already been a complicated summer for Barca in terms of transfers and this development has only made things more so.
Here’s the full picture — and what we can expect to happen next.
A new right-back?
Despite being a man who prefers not to speak about signings, Barcelona coach Xavi did not hold his tongue in pre-season when asked about a new right-back.
“Yes, it is a position we need and want to reinforce. We don’t have any natural players there and we would like one,” he said.
Jules Kounde and Ronald Araujo can operate in that position, Sergi Roberto, too, but there’s still no natural option there in Xavi’s squad as it stands and the club are still actively looking to strengthen with two weeks of the summer transfer window to go.
Joao Cancelo has a profile that makes sense and Barca are exploring the possibility of bringing him in. Following an unspectacular loan at Bayern Munich for the second half of last season and taking into account the contract he is on at Manchester City, there are not a lot of top-level suitors for the 29-year-old around Europe, so Spain’s champions do not seem to face a lot of competition over him.
Cancelo is versatile enough to also provide cover for Alejandro Balde at left-back, an important quality given Xavi does not have full confidence in his current backup option there, Marcos Alonso.
But sources at City, speaking — like all sources cited in this article — anonymously as they did not have permission to comment, told The Athletic before travelling for the UEFA Super Cup against Sevilla in the Greek city of Athens on Wednesday that they had not received a formal approach over Cancelo, either from Barcelona themselves or via the player’s agent, Jorge Mendes.
Barcelona would prefer a loan with an option to buy at the end of it because their financial situation makes it difficult to pay a transfer fee. City, however, began the summer window with the firm intention of selling Cancelo and sources with knowledge of the situation have also confirmed to The Athletic there is strong interest in the 44-cap Portugal international from Saudi Arabia.
Cancelo played for City against Bayern Munich in a friendly last month (Etsuo Hara/Getty Images)
Whether the clubs eventually reach an agreement for Cancelo will also depend on another factor at play here — a huge political battle going on behind the scenes.
Led by new sporting director Deco, the club have been pushing for the signing of a right-back to be prioritised all summer. Xavi and the coaching staff wanted to press for a holding midfielder first and they won that debate with the signing of Oriol Romeu from Girona. Both sides agree that a right-back needs to come in but have different views on who best fits the club’s profile for the vacancy. Xavi is pushing for Cancelo, the finished article. Deco prefers La Liga rising star Ivan Fresneda.
At 18 years of age, Fresneda is a raw talent but an exciting one. He impressed in his 2022-23 debut season with Real Valladolid, although the club ended up getting relegated from La Liga. The player is now looking for a way out and Barcelona are an admired destination as far as he is concerned. Deco sees in Fresneda a signing for the future, one of the most promising right-backs in Europe who is available right now at a reasonable price; Valladolid could demand a fee of around €18million (£15.4m; $19.6m), including add-ons.
GO DEEPER
50 to watch – Ivan Fresneda: Valladolid’s tough-tackling 18-year-old right-back
The coaching staff, however, have doubts that the teenager would provide an instant improvement to the squad. Xavi is keen instead on signing a more experienced player, a full-back who could slot straight into the starting line-up and boost Barcelona’s credentials in Europe, too. That is why his top candidates are Cancelo and Juan Foyth.
Over the past month, Villarreal’s Foyth has come up frequently in media transfer talk about Barcelona. The 25-year-old, part of Argentina’s World Cup-winning squad last December, is another player much appreciated by Xavi, but right now this is an impossible deal for Barca to do. His release clause is set at €42million and Villarreal are not interested in talks over accepting anything less than that having already sold two important players this window in forward Nicolas Jackson (to Chelsea) and defender Pau Torres (to Aston Villa).
Real Mallorca’s Pablo Maffeo is the latest right-back to be linked with Barca in Spanish media reports, but the Barcelona-born 26-year-old does not seem a likely option.
Xavi was sent off in Sunday’s season-opening draw at Getafe (Florencia Tan Jun/Getty Images)
What about midfield?
Further to strengthening with the summer signings of Ilkay Gundogan and Romeu, Xavi’s dream option here was, is and will always be the former’s Manchester City team-mate Bernardo Silva.
The 82-cap Portugal international is seen by the coaches as the sort of player who can adapt to any role in midfield while possessing the elite-level talent that would elevate Barca’s game — especially in the Champions League. The board also like him. The only ones who might not be convinced are Barcelona’s accountants because the 29-year-old is, in practical terms, an impossible option for a club who have so far only been able to invest €4million in signings this summer (all of which was spent on Romeu).
So Barca have had to set up a Plan B.
In Xavi’s eyes, a player that could fit the bill is Tottenham Hotspur’s Giovani Lo Celso.
The 27-year-old Argentina international is in a very different situation at his English club to Bernardo. Lo Celso was an unused substitute for new head coach Ange Postecoglou in their Premier League opener on Sunday and Spurs could be willing to let him leave (having spent the previous season and a half on loan in La Liga with Villarreal), but he, too, could end up being out of Barca’s reach, especially if it is decided a right-back should be prioritised.
Recruiting a player with a profile similar to Bernardo’s has been part of the plan since before the pre-season tour in the United States (in tandem with the right-back situation). But the departure of Ousmane Dembele to Paris Saint-Germain following Barca’s return from the U.S. has changed things.
GO DEEPER
Ousmane Dembele: The full story behind Barcelona star’s messy move towards PSG
“If we were asking for two players with Dembele in the team, now you can add another one,” a source close to Xavi revealed when asked about the manager’s intentions to replace the French winger.
Who can Barcelona afford, though, to match Dembele’s skill set? Well, at some point during recent weeks, several at the Catalan club thought they could re-sign Neymar from PSG. Multiple sources confirmed to The Athletic that president Joan Laporta was really invested in the aim of bringing him back, six years after his move to Paris — and that the feeling was mutual. The only person who had some concerns was Xavi. The coach, while not disputing the talent his now 31-year-old former Barca team-mate still possesses, had some major doubts over the influence he could have on the dressing room.
However, a deal for Neymar was more a hope than a reality. Barcelona would realistically have needed him to terminate his contract with PSG, agree to take a massive pay cut and wait for them to complete the sales of Clement Lenglet and Sergino Dest (at least) to make room for him on the wage bill.
Dest was given minutes during Barca’s pre-season tour (Omar Vega/Getty Images)
That hope lasted as long as the offer from Saudi Arabian club Al Hilal was on the table before Neymar picked it up and signed it. Barcelona could never compete with those figures.
Laporta saw in Neymar a chance to try again for what the club failed to achieve with Lionel Messi earlier this summer — the re-signing of a true star player who would help convince fans to follow Barca away from the Camp Nou for all of this season (and for at least some of 2024-25) while it undergoes extensive, lengthy renovations.
Playing at the city’s Olympic stadium for a season-plus is likely to cost the club at least €100million in sunk costs and lost revenues — and to make things worse, they have not sold anywhere near as many season tickets at their temporary home as they hoped or expected.
GO DEEPER
Magic on Montjuic? Barca’s first home game away from Camp Nou leaves mixed messages
Therefore, Laporta has been looking for incentives to encourage fans and tourists to come (and pay) to watch the team play and the return of Neymar looked like the perfect move in his eyes.
Now, Spanish media outlets are talking about Joao Felix.
Another Portugal international, the 23-year-old has offered himself to the club as he is in conflict with Atletico Madrid. Joao Felix isn’t planning on staying put following his loan to Chelsea for the second half of last season and will try to force a move as his relationship with his manager and club is broken.
But aside from the financial side of things on Barca’s end, with the club still strapped for cash, there is another hurdle that will have to be overcome in this case: Xavi. Sources close to the 43-year-old former Barcelona and Spain midfielder say Joao Felix is not a player in consideration. One of the aspects the coaching staff do not particularly like about him is his lack of defensive effort.
So what, exactly, does Xavi want?
Well, he sees his squad progressing with a four-midfielder system. He finds himself now with only five reliable options in that department (Romeu, Frenkie de Jong, Pedri, Gavi and Gundogan). Xavi wants more depth in that position and more creativity in the final third.
Sunday’s season-opening goalless draw away to Getafe was another reminder of how Barcelona have been struggling to create chances, something even their lead striker Robert Lewandowski, in an exclusive interview with The Athletic, recently admitted was this side’s big weakness.
GO DEEPER
Robert Lewandowski exclusive interview: ‘Barcelona is still the place to be’
That’s partly the reason Xavi has decided to keep Abde Ezzalzouli with the first team after his successful loan last season at Osasuna. Right now, the 21-year-old Morocco international is Barcelona’s best out-and-out winger in terms of taking players on following Dembele’s departure.
Lamine Yamal is another name to consider as a potential replacement for Dembele from within the squad. Although he only turned 16 a month ago, Yamal impressed everyone during pre-season and came off the bench for the final 15 minutes or so against Getafe.
Xavi wants to make sure Yamal is given room to grow in this team. If he fulfils the potential he clearly has, Dembele’s exit will be a blessing in disguise.
Felix was jeered by Atletico fans at the first match of the new season (Denis Doyle/Getty Images)
But how can Barca afford any of this?
This is the question that everyone asks.
Let’s start with what happened last week.
Barcelona announced the resale of 29.5 per cent of two of the financial ‘levers’ they pulled last summer. A big chunk of the funds raised in this way — half of the €120million deal — is expected to be added to the club’s budget by the end of the month and this already appears to have helped them register most of their first-team players.
On Saturday morning, the day before that season-opener against Getafe, Barca had just 12 first-team players registered with La Liga. Right now, only Inigo Martinez (who is currently injured anyway) and Alonso are missing.
GO DEEPER
Barca’s €120m lifeline before La Liga start: Levers are back (but not as we know them)
Martinez is expected to be formally registered before deadline day, according to sources at the club. In the case of Alonso, the same sources expect something similar, but the club would also happily let him go if any interesting offers came in for the former Chelsea left-back, who had a disappointing pre-season.
Barcelona also hope to conclude more sales before the window closes. Lenglet seems closest to an exit, with the French centre-back recently attracting attention from Saudi side Al Nassr. There’s also Dest, who has not received any compelling offers to leave yet having spent last season on loan in Italy with AC Milan.
Those potential sales, combined with the ‘lever 2.0’ and the confirmed departures of Nico Gonzalez, Franck Kessie and Dembele will, according to club sources, grant enough room under the salary limit to register every player currently pending and even some new signings. “There is the belief inside the club that a signing such as Joao Cancelo, coming on loan, is feasible following the financial criteria at the club,” an executive source told The Athletic.
Barcelona confirmed they received €8.5million from Portugal’s Porto for Gonzalez and €12.5m from Saudi club Al Ahli for Kessie, but it’s still unclear if they can manage to bank more than €25m from the complicated Dembele deal.
However, right now, Barca also still need to fully decide on the priority positions they want to strengthen.
And why is Alemany moving on?
Alemany has been an important figure since joining Barca in 2021. Back in May, Xavi described him as “an extraordinary person” who “has put a lot of order and structure inside this club”. His work on reducing the club’s outlay on wages, in an effort to meet La Liga spending rules, saw him earn the respect and trust of many at the club.
Alemany has been a crucial figure behind the scenes at Barca (Urbanandsport/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
When it was first announced Alemany would be leaving back in early May (before he then changed his mind and asked to stay), the club started exploring new candidates to replace him. Laporta believed Deco was the best option.
Laporta promised Deco at the start of May, when it seemed Alemany was out of the club, that he would become the main figure inside Barcelona’s sporting direction.
GO DEEPER
What Barcelona’s shock sporting director news means (for a second time in three months)
But less than a month after announcing he was going to leave, Alemany called Laporta and asked for a meeting over a private lunch. There, he revealed he now regretted his decision and asked to stay.
While Laporta was happy to accept the 60-year-old’s proposal, the news was not received with the same enthusiasm among Deco’s camp.
The new sporting director had already set his mind on becoming Barcelona’s main man on recruitment and did not plan to reduce that status. He has been working in the shadows all summer as one of the biggest forces during potential transfer discussions and has not hesitated in making his ideas clear to the club.
One Barca source put it like this: “Deco asked us to have full powers.”
It is still unclear what Alemany’s next steps will be, but what is clear is his leaving now has everything to do with the arrival of Deco and the new structure taking shape at Barca.
(Top photos: Getty Images)
