The president of FC Barcelona, Joan Laporta, will find himself in the crosshairs of Barcelona pressure in the coming months, as the departure of Xavi Hernandez draws closer.
It will be up to Laporta and sporting director Deco to decide the new direction of business in Catalonia, and without Xavi to take most of the criticism, if things continue to go wrong from here on out, it will be up to them neck that will be at stake.
So, according to Sport, Laporta made a curious move towards the end of the January transfer window, which ended on February 1, but it was not a move towards a player. The Catalan boss was spotted in Palma de Mallorca and the newspaper claims a meeting took place at a restaurant called El Portitxol with former football director Mateu Alemany.
Huge institutional crisis at Barça
The aim was to persuade Alemany to return to the club, after he was forced out in August to make way for sporting director Deco, who wanted full powers over transfers. The exact role Alemany would have had is unclear, but he would have rejected Laporta’s offer out of hand. The technician was linked with a position at Atlético de Madrid and the presidency of the Spanish Football Federation, and had no intention of returning to the Blaugrana.
The natural assumption is that Laporta feels his expertise is lacking at Barcelona – Alemany oversaw the construction of the team that won La Liga last season. The former Valencia sporting director had initially planned to leave for Aston Villa last April, but that plan fell through due to disagreements with Unai Emery. When he changed his mind, steps had already been taken to bring in Deco, who wanted full control over the team.
