FC Barcelona have already made their first big signing of the summer, if reports from the likes of SPORT and Mundo Deportivo are accurate.
Barca and their fans are currently celebrating a first La Liga title in four years and a maiden Spanish top flight crown under head coach Xavi Hernandez after a 4-2 win at bitter rivals Espanyol on Sunday evening finished off the job with four matchdays to spare.
Eventually, however, president Joan Laporta and his board, plus Culers, would wake up to the club’s harsh economic reality which sees them needing to shed €200 million ($216 million) from the wage bill ahead of next season if they wish to make new signings and sign new players.
In order for this to be done, Barca need to make several player sales and navigate complicated Financial Fair Play limits.
And already, on May 2, they knew that they would lose their director of football Mateu Alemany who took care of issues related to those two areas to great effect last summer.
On this date, it was announced that Alemany would depart on June 30 ahead of schedule despite having a contract until 2024.
According to The Athletic, he would take up a new role at Aston Villa in the Premier PINC League in quick succession, leaving Barca fans dejected about what lies ahead in the transfer market despite an alleged agreement to help out until deadline day at Camp Nou despite being over the water in Birmingham.
A further blow was struck on Tuesday when sporting director Jordi Cruyff’s departure was also announced. Less than 24 hours later, however, Barca received a huge boost when Catalan media reported in quick succession that Alemany had performed a shock U-turn and had offered his continuation which Laporta subsequently accepted.
No official announcement has been made on the matter, but reports are highly likely to be accurate.
In this case, we can safely say that Barca have in effect already made their first big signing of the summer in securing Alemany, who has been offered a contract until 2026 according to Gerard Romero.
Just a few days ago, Alemany teased himself: “I can tell you one thing, this summer is going to be very interesting.”
And now that he is presumably back behind the wheel, huge things could await the Blaugrana in the transfer market with Lionel Messi’s potential return increasingly possible.
Furthermore, Alemany will also get of the dead wood that Barca need to offload which will further facilitate the arrival of fresh faces.
