Barcelona have confirmed the exit of transfer chief Mateu Alemany with a move to the Premier League thought to be close – with Aston Villa involved in negotiations.
The loss of Alemany represents a blow to the Catalan giants and another moment in the shifting balance of financial power in football. The economic approach from Villa is believed to be significantly higher than Alemany’s current deal at Camp Nou, which had been due to run until next summer.
The 60-year-old is viewed as the architect behind the Blaugrana’s transfer strategy since his arrival at the club two years ago. An appointment of club president Joan Laporta, Alemany oversaw football operations at Barca and was a key link behind the coaching staff and club management in squad construction.
A Barcelona statement on Tuesday confirmed his impending exit on 30 June, the official end date of the 2022/23 season. It was an instructive statement by the Catalan club in its insistence that Alemany would play a key role in securing summer transfers before his exit – they are aware of his significance and wary that his exit will create a void.
Antonio Cordon, most recently at Real Betis, is likely to be a de facto replacement for Alemany in Barca’s sporting structure but his exit may be profound. It is less a case of the arrivals that the Director of Football oversaw, but the manner in which they arrived.
The club have exploited the market of free agents, most notably in the arrival of Andreas Christensen – a star of Barca’s campaign, and in driving contractual reductions and bargains in the squad. Among his contemporaries, Alemany was viewed as the key figure behind building the squad that will win La Liga this season.
Have Your Say! Will Aston Villa be challengers for a top four spot next season? Tell us what you think here.
Having spent two decades at Real Mallorca split between acting as a CEO and club president, his greatest and most relevant achievement to date was arguably his spell at Valencia between 2017 and 2019. Alongside coach Marcelino, he helped revive the struggling club’s fortunes.
Having finished in the lower half of La Liga in successive campaigns, Valencia secured two top four finishes under the duo and the Copa del Rey title in the second season. Alemany, like Marcelino, was hugely popular among the club’s fanbase – which did not go down well with other senior figures within the club, in somewhat of a power battle over who was responsible for transfers, budgets, and sporting strategy.
Together at Mestalla, they built a team to challenge Spain’s elite with the loan signings of Goncalo Guedes and Geoffrey Kondogbia – both of which were then made permanent – underpinning Alemany’s success in the transfer market. Those returns in a somewhat constricted environment helped persuade Barca to push for his appointment two years later.
In an interview earlier this year, Alemany told Marca that he had no plans of leaving the Camp Nou: “This is part of the private sphere. (Aston Villa’s interest) is of no great importance. But what is certain is that I will stay at Barca.”
That too feels significant, suggesting that his exit is driven by a fresh development behind the scenes or a disagreement. There have been claims that his influence has been diminished in recent times, with Laporta instead being swayed by agents on comings and goings at the club, including the potential return of Lionel Messi.
Alemany will be a loss for Barca, where he has enhanced his reputation once more, and a gain for whichever club secures his arrival. His offer from Villa – one of several Premier League clubs to indicate their interest in him this year – will be a financial offer, and arguably a sporting project, that represents a step up at this moment in time.
Villa have enjoyed a tremendous second half of the campaign under boss Unai Emery, who replaced Steven Gerrard at the Midlands club in the autumn.
