Barcelona has responded to reports from Spanish media claiming that sporting director Deco is contemplating leaving the club following a challenging summer transfer window.
Despite securing the signings of Dani Olmo and Pau Víctor, Barça struggled to bring in a left winger, a holding midfielder, and a defender due to ongoing financial difficulties.
According to Diario Sport, these setbacks have prompted Deco, who took on the role last year, to consider stepping down.
Barça said in a statement:
“We categorically deny the news that appeared on Sept. 1 in Diario Sport placing in doubt the continuity of our sporting director.”
“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, when approached by ESPN for comment, referred to the club’s official statement regarding the situation.
The former Portugal international, who left his role as a football agent last year to become Barcelona’s sporting director, initially worked alongside Mateu Alemany before assuming full responsibilities after Alemany’s departure in September.
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Deco’s efforts have been hindered by Barcelona’s challenging financial situation.
Despite the club’s continued excess over their annual spending limit—regulated by La Liga and based on revenue,
non-sporting expenses, and debt repayments—Barcelona is restricted to spending only a portion of what they save through wage reductions, transfer fees, or new revenue streams.
Before the summer transfer window, LaLiga set Barcelona’s spending cap at just over €200 million ($221 million), while sources told ESPN that the club’s actual squad costs were closer to €400 million.
Despite these financial challenges, Barça managed to secure Dani Olmo from RB Leipzig for €55 million. However, due to financial restrictions, his registration was delayed, causing him to miss the first two games of the season.
Olmo was finally registered last week, thanks to a rule allowing clubs to exceed their spending limit if a player is ruled out with a long-term injury, in this case, Andreas Christensen.
In addition, young forward Pau Víctor joined from Girona for €2.5 million, but sources indicated that Barcelona had hoped to bring in more reinforcements.
The club explored moves for players like Federico Chiesa, who ended up at Liverpool, and made a late bid for Stefan Bajcetic after Marc Bernal suffered an ACL injury, but they missed out on both.
João Cancelo, another target, signed for Al Hilal in the Saudi Pro League, and Bayer Leverkusen’s Jonathan Tah was also linked but did not join.
Barcelona president Joan Laporta is set to hold a press conference on Tuesday to discuss the club’s transfer window activities.
