The Ordinary General Assembly of FC Barcelona members took place yesterday, in which some of the highest decision-makers at the Catalan club appeared and delivered some speeches.
As already reported, Joan Laporta was one of the speakers at this event, as he talked about the club’s transfer activity in the last transfer window.
In addition to the President, MARCA reports that the Sporting Director Deco also talked at this event, and addressed some of the notable sporting decisions made by the Blaugrana club in recent months.
The Portuguese official talked about the club’s decision to appoint Flick as the head coach of Barcelona:
“From the sporting direction, we’ve always believed that although we didn’t achieve titles last year, we had a strong foundation with our homegrown players. We had to make decisions regarding departures, and new signings, and evaluate what we had in the reserve team with courage.”
“We needed a coach who believed in this idea and project, and that is helping us make this change because the coach is a fundamental part of this process. He gave us the green light to continue with the planned work in physical preparation and recovery, as it was something that needed improvement.”
Ilkay Gundogan was one of the most important Barcelona players who left the club last summer, and Deco explained his departure:
“He came on a free transfer, and after a conversation with the coach and realizing he wouldn’t get playing time, he decided to leave. We allowed him to go for free, considering that he arrived at no cost.”
On the other hand, Dani Olmo was the star signing of the window, and Deco also commented on his incorporation:
“We believed we were missing a player like him. We have high-level midfielders, but he offered us many more solutions than what we had. He was a key player to strengthen the squad. Pau Víctor was the top scorer in the reserve team, and we believe in him.”
Deco also explained the reason for loaning out Vitor Roque to Real Betis:
“He has a lot of quality, and we believe in him. He arrived at a difficult time in December, and we’ve loaned him to Betis so that he can come back stronger.”
Barcelona also had a rather peculiar arrival in the shape of Wojciech Szczesny, who came out of retirement to join the Blaugranes outside of a transfer window. Deco also commented on this operation:
“He came because of Marc’s injury. We hadn’t planned on bringing anyone in. It was clear to us that we needed to bring stability to the goalkeeping position.”
Marc Guiu left Barcelona to join Chelsea and Deco explained his transfer:
“We couldn’t convince him to stay; he wanted to go to Chelsea, and he had a low release clause that they triggered.”
Lastly, the Sporting Director also highlighted the objectives that the entity is pursuing for now:
“We are controlling our investments. Transfers involve renewal, strategy, and decisions to increase the value of homegrown players. There’s a lot of talk in the press about bringing in new players, but we know what we need to do. We control investments to sign only what we want, and we also adjust the wage costs to comply with Fair Play rules.”
“We aim for bonuses to be based on winning titles. Barça cannot go without winning, and players should be rewarded when we win. Our clear commitment is to La Masía while also keeping an eye on the market.”
With these comments, Deco has cleared the air about some of the transfer activities of the Catalan club and its aims for the future. Hopefully, the club will be able to meet the maximum of these objectives in the months and years to come.
