Scandal at Barça, Laporta's decision that provoked a conflict with club's chiefs

Barcelona have been facing serious financial problems for some time now, which have forced them to make difficult decisions. The most important of them was the departure of Lionel Messi, whose contract was not renewed in 2021 and who had to leave for Paris Saint-Germain. But they have also had to cut costs and present a viability plan to La Liga outlining their plans for the future.

With this scenario, sports planning has been difficult and it was only in the last year that they were able to build a team that lived up to the expectations of the fans. The arrival of Xavi Hernandez as coach was important, and his work paid off with the winning of the 2022/23 La Liga title.

However, some problems keep cropping up. In June, sporting director Jordi Cruyff left, deciding to prioritize other projects. To replace him, Joan Laporta decided to hire Deco, a former Portuguese midfielder. This was announced by the club in an official statement: "He will be in charge of setting the sporting philosophy and putting together the squad together with the coach and technical staff, and will become the head of the soccer section".

But Deco's arrival produced an unexpected problem, as Mateu Alemany decided that he will leave the club. Alemany is Barcelona's director of soccer, but with Deco his powers will be reduced. Therefore, despite Laporta offering him a relocation within the club's organization, he decided that he will leave in a short time. "Deco and Alemany will work together until the close of the summer market. In the coming weeks, the club will detail Barcelona's sporting structure," explains the official statement.

They know each other well

Deco will work alongside Xavi on the most important sporting decisions. It will be a reunion between the midfielders, who were teammates at Barcelona between 2004 and 2008. Both were part of the team that won the Champions League 2005/06, with Frank Rijkaard as coach.