Mateu Alemany, the director of football at Barcelona, will not continue in his role next season. However, he will be in charge of all the club’s operations in the upcoming transfer market. The club announced this in a statement after the match between Barça and Osasuna. The statement said that “President Laporta has accepted this departure due to Mateu’s commitment to lead the summer market until the last operation and to be consulted when the club requires it.” The Catalan club is facing a difficult transfer window due to their delicate financial situation, with no room to incorporate new players and waiting to register the new contracts of Gavi and Araujo while also hoping to repatriate Lionel Messi.
When Joan Laporta won the presidential elections in March 2021, he presented Mateu Alemany as one of his key executives, along with Ferran Reverter. Alemany would lead all the professional football operations, while Reverter would oversee the club’s general management. However, Reverter lasted only 11 months, while Alemany is leaving after 27. The club added that “the addition of Mateu Alemany to the structure of the first team, when Joan Laporta won the past elections, has allowed FC Barcelona to close operations that seemed impossible and to provide the coach with competitive teams within the economic problems that it still faces.”
Alemany had a contract with Barcelona until June 2024, but a tempting offer from Aston Villa, led by Unai Emery, combined with Barcelona’s difficult financial management, would have led him to leave the club earlier. In his first season with Barcelona (2020–2021), Alemany signed nine new players, spending 62 million on Ferran Torres, whom he had previously worked with at Valencia. In the 2021–2022 season, thanks to selling assets, Barcelona signed eight players for a total of 158 million. The team is currently leading La Liga and won the Spanish Super Cup, but struggled in Europe, being eliminated from both the Champions League and the Europa League.
Alemany’s departure coincides with Barcelona’s desire to re-sign Messi. Alemany was reportedly not in favor of renewing Messi’s contract in 2021, and the Argentine ultimately joined PSG. Now that Laporta wants to bring Messi back, Alemany’s future seems to be in the Premier League.