Barcelona to hold off on Alemany announcement until Deco’s appointment is finalised

Earlier today, reports broke claiming that Barcelona director Mateu Alemany had made a U-turn and decided to stay at the club two weeks after announcing that he would leave on June 30.

A move to Aston Villa was said to be on the cards, but as it turned out, the project at the Midlands club was not appealing as it was made out to be and the 60-year-old offered to continue at Barcelona, which president Joan Laporta is understood to have accepted.

In fact, some reports are even suggesting that Barça have offered Alemany a new contract to extend his stay at the club until 2026.

While it is believed that Alemany will remain at Barcelona beyond this season, it must be remembered that the club have not made an official announcement on his U-turn as of yet.

And, Mundo Deportivo is now claiming that Barcelona do not have any plans to announce Alemany’s decision to continue right away.

Instead, the newly-crowned La Liga champions will wait until they have closed the appointment of Deco and sorted their new technical organisation chart before making an announcement.

Deco had emerged as the frontrunner to replace Alemany as the director of football following the latter’s decision to leave.

And even though Alemany is set to continue now, it will not impact Deco’s appointment, with the former midfielder now expected to take over the role of sports director held by Jordi Cruyff.

Talks are in advanced stages with the former Portuguese international and his appointment is seen as only a matter of time as he works to find a solution for his player agency.

In fact, Alemany and Deco held a meeting earlier today at Ciutat Esportiva, while there was another meeting that also involved Alejandro Echevarria and Rafa Yuste to discuss the club’s approach heading into the summer market.