Deco: Barcelona ‘categorically deny’ departure of sporting director and ‘could not be happier’ with former player
Published 03/09/2024 at 10:54 GMT+1
Barcelona have hit out at reports in Spain that Deco is considering leaving his role as the club's sporting director following another difficult summer transfer window. The 27-time Spanish champions have endured financial troubles in recent seasons. "The club would like to state that it could not be happier with the job Deco is doing and refute this article," a Barcelona club statement read.
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Barcelona “categorically deny” reports coming out of Spain that former player-turned-sporting director Deco is considering leaving his role.
Reports suggested that Deco, who played for the club between 2004 and 2008, was weighing up his future at Camp Nou following a difficult summer transfer market.
But the Spanish giants have strongly denied the rumours and said that they “could not be happier” with the job Deco is doing.
"We categorically deny the news that appeared on Sept. 1 in Diario Sport placing in doubt the continuity of our sporting director," Barcelona said in a statement.
"In response to the piece titled 'Deco, disappointed, meditating his future,' the club would like to state that it could not be happier with the job Deco is doing and refute this article that has appeared at the end of the transfer window."
Deco left his role as an agent in 2023 before signing a three-year contract as sporting director at his former club.
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The former midfielder oversees the club’s transfer activity, which has been a tough job in recent seasons.
Barca have endured financial difficulties over the last couple of years and have been on a shoestring budget when it comes to incomings.
They only managed to sign two players this summer, Dani Olmo and Pau Victor, despite hopes of bringing in up to five players including Atletico Bilbao winger Nico Williams.
The club were also linked to Federico Chiesa, Liverpool's Stefan Bajcetic and a return for Joao Cancelo.
However, they came up short in their efforts to sign a left winger, a holding midfielder and a defender due to their strict finances, and were only able to register Olmo following a long-term injury to Andreas Christensen, which freed up space for new registrations.
Olmo missed the first two games of the season following his €55 million arrival from RB Leipzig but eventually made his debut when he came off the bench to score a late winner in a dramatic 2-1 victory over Ray Vallecano.
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