The main problem that occurs when a club in crisis loses its most important officials without preliminaries before a sensitive stage of the season is that people think that what really happened is that the club in crisis lost its most important officials without preliminaries. They assume that what was announced was what really happened, and that the surprise was really a surprise.

Barcelona may be the world's most troubled club, almost every phase of its season is sensitive with phrases such as bottleneck and dangerous curve, and Matteo Alemany was its most important and influential official, perhaps even more than Laporta himself, but his departure – certainly – was not "without preliminaries".

Target History

The snowball rolled almost from the first moment. Alemany was not given any budget to build his own squad as he did in Valencia and Mallorca. At first, the veteran Spaniard thought that it was under-resources that pushed the whole club to save on staff salaries, including Xavi's assistant team, which was also built on a small budget, and he also thought that resorting to temporary solutions, rather than more sustainable options, was for the same reason.

Resources were indeed weak, affecting all of the club's finances a priori, but what Alemany didn't realise was that his own existence might have been one of those temporary solutions. The reason was not that Barcelona did not need his services in the future, of course. In fact, the club's ability to spend and make deals in the upcoming transfer market will decline compared to last summer, but the main reason was what one source close to the club described to The Athletic as Alemany being a "crisis manager" or a "manager of tragedies" in literal translation. (1)

The stripping of his human weapons, and the teams of scouts, analysts and pollsters, gave Xavi and Laporta near-absolute power in deciding the club's contracts, and consequently pushed Alemany to the sidelines on a number of important issues, as if his opinion was not important unless it was about money, and only money.

Over time, Alemany's job in Catalonia acquired a gloomy tint. Even the technical issues that had financial repercussions for the club were marginal, and his objections to them were not taken into account, most notably, for example, the decision to renew Sergi Roberto, a man who has not provided much in the last six seasons, specifically since his historic goal against Paris, but Xavi's desire to keep him settled the matter.

The same pattern was repeated with the renewal of Jordi Alba and Sergio Busquets as well as Dembélé; Alemany did not see the point in pursuing a player who had decided to publicly blackmail the club for a "rude" salary after five seasons in which he missed more than three full seasons, and even when the renewal took place, the Barcelona sporting director was not satisfied with his terms, especially the €50 million penalty clause that he saw as causing a constant headache, and it seems that his expectations will be believed after the recent news. Tuchel – former Dembele coach at Dortmund – wants to take advantage of the condition to join Bayern Munich. (2) (3) (4)

It all became clear to Alemany a few months later, and with his frankness and well-known directness, he made a verbal agreement with Laporta giving him the right to look for another better chance, and the situation continued as it was until that opportunity came represented by an offer that could not be rejected from Aston Villa, coinciding with the fall of the last straw that broke the man's back. (5)

Cage sparrow

Matteo Alemany (Getty Images)

It's very simple in essence and, unlike Alemany's decision to leave, he doesn't need any introductions; Barcelona don't have the financial means to bring Lionel Messi back to Camp Nou, nor are they even close to doing so. This is not a surprise, the surprise for Alemany was the insistence of Laporta and some members of the board of directors to promote the return of the "Bulga" with indirect hints, the infection that in turn spread to the team's players, specifically the captains, Busquets, Alba and Roberto. (3) (6)

Here, Alemany felt that it went beyond artistic marginalization to media implication. When the news broke, the media could not find a more trustworthy face to ask him about other than Alemany, and as the man struggled to find a way to renew the contracts of Gavi, Balde and Araujo, he found reporters and reporters asking him about Messi's return.

It is important in this context to reflect on his comments about the matter before the Rayo Vallecano match in LaLiga, the caution and coldness that enveloped them and, as expected, frustrated many of the club's fans after Laporta gave them ill-considered hope, manipulated their feelings, perhaps to distract everyone from the Nguerrera case.

"Messi loves to come here and has been visiting Barcelona for several days as he used to do, but there has been no contact with him."

(Matteo Alemany, Barcelona sporting director, in a press statement ahead of the match against Rayo Vallecano. (7)

The irony is that if Messi were really destined to return, no one would have been able to complete the process other than Alemany, the only man in the whole of Catalonia with good relations with LaLiga president Javier Tebas, who in turn welcomed Messi's return, because the pair were part of a single election campaign for the presidency of the Spanish federation in 2007. (1)

All this does not compare to Alemany's original and most important role at all, as the brightest, smartest and most attentive administrator to legal details in the Laporta board, which made him spare the club a lot of troubles and legal loopholes in the contracts it concluded during the last period, including contracts of what was known in the media as "economic levers".

Juan Laporta (Anatolia)

First, Alemany's departure makes him the third to exit Laporta's management in its first year after economic director Jaume Giroud and CEO Ferran Rivertier, and second, the scene of consecutive resignations was repeated before with Laporta in his first era, before he publicly admitted to using the club's resources to finance his media war against Roussel and Bartomeu, who had also resigned from Laporta's board. (8) (9)

After his resignation, Riverter explained that despite being the club's CEO, his opinion was not considered in the sponsorship deal with Spotify, which he felt that Barcelona could have received a larger amount from, especially if the club had decided to divide sponsorship rights, such as name rights, shirt sponsorship, sponsorship of the Espai Barca project and others in separate contracts for separate sponsors. Instead of selling them all at once in one big deal, simply because that means more profits. (10)

This logic – the division of sponsorship contracts – carries a lot of merit because it was the same logic that gave Manchester United its unprecedented financial power over the world's clubs - including Real Madrid and Barcelona - during the tenure of Ed Woodward, as the American economist replaced global sponsorship contracts with transcontinental companies with dozens of small contracts with local partners in a larger number of countries, and this gave each partner an undisputed advantage within the borders of his country, and all those small contracts were combined. A much larger lump sum than Manchester United would have received from one major contract with a global partner. (11)

The dilemma of trust and efficiency

Ferran Torres and Laporta (Anatolia)

According to a statement issued by the club at quarter past eleven in the morning of last Tuesday, the second of May, Alemany will commit to completing the club's work in the transfer market next summer before his departure, which suggests that he may work for two different clubs in the same summer if the details of the contract with Aston Villa are finalized soon. (12)

That action will include renewing Dembele again, and fulfilling his promise to Xavi to sign 29-year-old Atletico Madrid winger Yannick Carrasco as an additional option on the left flank, which could push Ferran Torres to accompany Alemany to the Premier League. Even as he is leaving, Alemany could help Barcelona shake off the effects of Laporta's hasty and ill-considered decision to spend €55m on a player like Torres who did not suit the needs of the team even if he was outstanding in other tactical contexts. (1) (13) (14)

The most important thing is that the shock and surprise in Catalonia may prevent everyone from realizing the extent of the hinge of that moment and its impact on the performance of Laporta's management and technical staff in the future, despite his marginalization in many decisions, Alemany was very pivotal and influential in what he has achieved so far, and the process of replacing him may be the most difficult ever, especially when you realize that Laporta may bring one of his trusted friends, Anderson Luiz de Sousa, or "Deco". (15) (16)

Initially, press reports referred to the name of Antonio Cordon, former Real Betis sporting director, and one of the reasons behind their surge in recent seasons under Pellegrini despite the almost non-existent financial means, who came to the Andalusian team on the nomination of the Chilean coach himself, after their partnership in the previous successes of Villarreal, in which Cordon's work lasted for sixteen years, starting in 2000 as a junior scout, before progressing in positions to sporting director. (17) (18) (19)

The frequent confusion about Cordon is that some attribute Monaco's achievement in the 2016-2017 season to his assumption of the position of sporting director during this season, when in fact he was completing the legendary work that Luis Campos accomplished there in the previous three seasons, after which he moved to Lille to help them win the title, so Paris Saint-Germain decided to deprive his opponents of the services of the man by including him in its ranks.

He didn't assemble the squad
Luis Ocampos was the Sporting director of Monaco.
It was Luis that assemble the Monaco squad

— Talk Barcelona 🔴 (@TalkBarcaHQ) May 2, 2023

The real and most important achievement of Cordon in his career, along with his time at Betis, came when his smart signings helped to first capture Pellegrini from his spot, then build a successful team at Villarreal under his leadership, reaching the semi-finals of the Champions League in the 2006 season before leaving with great difficulty against Arsenal, and then finishing second in LaLiga at the end of the 2007-2008 season, ten points ahead of third Barcelona. (20)

In 16 years at Villarreal, Cordon has been credited with discovering the likes of Cazorla and Godin, as well as capturing Rodrygo with an expert eye from Atletico Madrid's academy, and then selling him back to the same club for the equivalent of €20m after just one season with the first team. In an interview with the Spanish Marca in 2018, Cordon predicted that the Spanish pivot would shine with Atléti and succeed Busquets in the national team for many years. (17) (18) (20)

In short, the man has achieved a fair amount of success almost everywhere he has set foot, and this is what makes the tendency to "Deco" a dangerous indicator, as he has never worked as a sports director before, and has not even been affiliated with any administrative work within any club in fact - except for his current job with Barcelona as their main scout in Brazil - in a repeat of the tragedy of Eric Abidal, as if Barcelona is not destined to learn from its mistakes, as if all those successive dangerous curves have pushed him into a circle. It is a never-ending vicious struggle in football between confidence and efficiency, a struggle that everyone – especially in Barcelona – knows in advance.

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Sources:

  • Matteo Alemany: Why is he leaving Barcelona, why is it important, and who will succeed him? – The Athletic
  • Why and when will Matteo Alemany leave Barcelona? – AS
  • Messi, Busquets and Aston Villa The main reasons for Alemany's departure from Barcelona – Barca News
  • Bayern Munich manager wants to sign Barcelona star – Everything Barca
  • Matteo Alemany: Aston Villa finalize the signing of the late Barcelona sporting director – The Athletic
  • Matteo Alemany and Juan Laporta disagree over Messi's return, according to press reports – Forbes
  • Matteo Alemany asked about the return of Leo Messi – Sport
  • Barcelona elections. If the speech is silver! – Island
  • Laporta as president of Barcelona. Either a miracle or nothing! – Island
  • The real reason for Ferran Rivertier's departure from Barcelona – Sport
  • The rich loser. How has Manchester United maintained their popularity despite the failure? – Island
  • Barcelona's official statement on Matteo Alemanye's departure – FC Barcelona
  • Matteo Alemany will sign ahead of his departure from Barcelona – Everything Barca
  • Alemany hopes to keep Barcelona star on new contract before his departure – Football Espana
  • Details of Deco's potential contract with Barcelona revealed as sporting director to succeed Matteo Alemany – Football Espana
  • Sources: Barcelona considering the possibility of appointing its former player Deco as sporting director to succeed Matteo Alemany – ESPN
  • Former Real Betis sporting director is the strongest candidate to succeed Alemany at Barcelona – One Football
  • Barcelona knocks on Antonio Cordon's door – Be Soccer
  • The transfer magician who toppled Paris twice – Optus Sport
  • Antonio Cordon: "Lemar has all the potential to become one of the best in the world" – Marca