Barça deny Deco exit reports after transfer woes

Barcelona have hit back at Spanish media reports suggesting sporting director Deco is considering leaving the club after a difficult summer transfer window.

Barça signed Dani Olmo and Pau Víctor this summer but were thwarted in their efforts to sign a left winger, a holding midfielder and a defender due to their continued financial struggles.

Spanish sports newspaper Diario Sport reported on Sunday that those problems have led Deco, who only took up his position last year, to weigh up walking away from the club.

“We categorically deny the news that appeared on Sept. 1 in Diario Sport placing in doubt the continuity of our sporting director,” Barça said in a statement.

“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 also referred to the club’s statement when approached for comment by ESPN.

The former Portugal international stepped away from his work as an agent last year to become Barça’s sporting director, at first working alongside Mateu Alemany and then on his own when Alemany left the club last September.

However, he has seen his efforts hampered by the club’s difficult financial position.

While Barça remain in excess of their annual spending limit — all clubs in Spain are subject to a cap which is roughly determined by the difference between a team’s revenue minus non-sporting outgoings and debt repayments — they can only spend a percentage of what they save in wages, raise in transfer fees or bring in via new revenue streams.

Before the summer, LaLiga revealed Barça’s cap was just over €200 million ($221m), with sources telling ESPN the Blaugrana’s squad costs were around €400m.

Despite that, they still managed to sign Olmo from RB Leipzig for €55m, although financial restrictions meant he missed the first two games of the season as the wait to process his registration dragged on.

Barça eventually registered Olmo last week, taking advantage of a rule which allows club to exceed their limit in the event a player is ruled out injured long-term — in this case Andreas Christensen.

Young forward Pau Victor also arrived from Girona this summer for €2.5m, but sources told ESPN that Barça would have liked to bring in more players.

They considered a move for Federico Chiesa, who eventually moved to Liverpool, and missed out on Liverpool’s Stefan Bajcetic after making a late bid to sign the Spanish midfielder when Marc Bernal ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament

João Cancelo was another target who went elsewhere, with the full-back signing for Saudi Pro League club Al Hilal, while Bayer Leverkusen centre-back Jonathan Tah was also linked.

Barça president Joan Laporta is due to speak in a news conference on Tuesday to discuss the club’s activity in the transfer window.