A few months ago, the Catalan team was ruined. They had to let Messi and Griezmann go, they couldn’t make new signings, they asked the players to reduce their salaries, and everything was destroyed thanks to the bad management of Josep Maria Bartomeu.
The new president Joan Laporta immediately set to work to rescue the club and bring in money to be able to buy and make the team competitive, because European teams sell their stars at a very high price. Laporta had an ace up his sleeve, and that was Mateu Alemany.
The sporting director has put together a powerful team that can be considered one of the best in Europe. It is not a bad idea to enter this free bonus betting sites to bet on the Spanish club that after a long time is in a position to fight for everything again.
Who is Mateu Alemany, and how did he manage to build such a strong team with little money?
The negotiator
Alemany has been in football since 1989 when he was the Mallorca sports manager. He did such a good job until 2000, that when Florentino Pérez arrived at Real Madrid for the first time to build his famous Galacticos, he offered the executive the job of sporting director.
Alemany turned down the Spanish capital club and took over the presidency of Mallorca with which he won a Copa del Rey, but after several difficult years, he left the club and went to Valencia where he did not do badly but was sacked.
In both clubs, he left a good impression for what was achieved and for the way he handled himself. Laporta knew this and immediately saw in him the right man to help him raise the Blaugrana club from the ashes.
In March 2021 he gave him the sporting direction of the club and so far he has not disappointed.
Alemany is characterised by his way of negotiating, he is very brave in the office and usually gets what he wants, no matter how difficult it may be. He knows how far he can stretch the negotiation and makes desperation his ally and not his enemy.
He tries to be in control at all times, and his knowledge of international football means he knows the needs of the club. Obviously, the relationship with Xavi is one of the best. He talked to him and made a list of players that were needed, and Alemany went to negotiate.
But there was a serious problem. There is no money at Barcelona, Laporta was working to raise money, but he instructed the manager to get the players the coach asked for at a low cost, this would obviously seem an impossible mission because there are world-class players on the list, and they don’t come cheap.
This is what Alemany does perfectly, his ability to negotiate means that the seller ends up lowering the price, and it is the buyer who ends up winning in the end. With Bayern Munich, he demonstrated this because the Teuton side initially wanted 80 million for Robert Lewandowski and incredibly managed to sign him for 45 million, almost half of what they were asking for.
With Raphinha the price was 60 million, which was unaffordable for the club and the manager managed to bring it down to 40 million, perhaps, the most impressive thing is that he competed against Chelsea in England who were willing to pay the full price.
But perhaps his greatest triumph was the renewal of Demeblé. The Frenchman had refused to sign his new contract because he wanted more money. Barça was tired of sending him offers and thought he was a goner.
Alemany knew he had to be patient, the player’s agent claimed many offers, but the manager knew this was not true and that when they all fell through, which they did, it was time to attack. The striker was left alone without a team, and his only option was to return to talk to Barcelona. That is where the aggressiveness of the sporting director came in, who offered him a much smaller contract than the one he had been offered the first time.
In other words, Dembélé’s renewal was almost 40% cheaper for the club than they had thought, and this was made possible by the sporting director’s skill and his knowledge of the European football environment.
Another success was Andreas Christensen and Franck Kessie who joined the club for free, rejecting multi-million dollar offers from big European clubs. The manager offered them a much lower salary than their other offers, and they still signed for the Catalan club.
The Catalan club is still in pre-season, and the manager is still attacking, and now he went for Joules Koundé from Sevilla, who Chelsea had almost signed for almost 40 million. Alemany seems to have signed him for 25 million. Such is his ability that Chelsea can no longer see the agent who has thwarted every signing they have in mind.
People wonder where the money is coming from and how they are going to pay for so many signings and salaries, this was a serious problem that prevented the Camp Nou from making new signings, but this is where Laporta’s skill comes in, he has managed to get liquidity by selling certain things and has paid off part of the club’s debt.
What's next?
You would think that the club would be more than set up like this and that nothing is missing. But media in Spain report that the manager is not finished yet. That the summer still has a surprise in store for all the Culés.
There is talk that Bernardo Silva is on the verge of leaving the Cityzens and that Mateu got him for less than Manchester City’s asking price of 80 million. There is talk of 60 or 50 million for the talented Portuguese, which would be an absolute victory in the Catalan offices.
That’s not all, Xavi asked for Messi for the following season. The Argentinian’s contract expires next season, and he has not yet renewed with the French club. Inside Barça, they know that if Alemany starts to move his pieces right now, he could give one of the strongest coups in history by signing the return of the greatest figure in the history of the club for a last chapter with the Blaugrana shirt.
If Barcelona achieves anything this season it is very much down to Mateu Alemany who put them in a position to compete, got world-class players at little or no cost, renewed players for less money, and acknowledged contracts with current players to make the club’s finances healthier.
His skill in the back office is many, and that makes him perhaps the best manager in world football at the moment.
