The appointment of Deco as the Sporting Director was one of the decisions that generated the most debate at FC Barcelona in the last few years.
The Portuguese official had to live up to big expectations set by his predecessor, Mateu Alemany, and some failures early in his career as a Blaugrana official resulted in a lot of criticism going his way.
However, overall, the former Portuguese midfielder’s performance in this official role has been up to par, as SPORT notes that the Catalan club is enjoying an overall positive balance in its market operations since he took charge.
The Portuguese official’s tenure at Barcelona started in the second half of 2023, and since then, the Blaugranes have made a total investment of €80 million in the market, while getting a revenue of €89 million. Thus, the Catalans have generated a surplus of €9 million since Deco’s appointment.
There have only been a few expensive signings for Barcelona since Deco’s appointment. €30 million was spent for Vitor Roque, €47.5 million for Dani Olmo, and €2.5 million for Pau Victor.
On the other hand, the list of departures has been greater, as the Blaugranes have sold Vitor Roque for €25.5 million, Nico Gonzalez for a total of €22 million, Mikail Kaye for €10.3 million, Julian Araujo for €10 million, Ez Abde for €7.5 million, Marc Guiu for €6 million, Unai Hernandez for €4.5 million, and Estanis Pedrola for €3 million.
The income generated from these players can go on to increase even further as the Catalans also have future rights on several of these players, while players like Olmo and Pau Victor can also help them get a profit in the future.
However, in addition to this monetary surplus, Deco has, more importantly, also been able to assemble a team that can compete for several years to come, while the presence of young players in the squad means that overall value of the team will continue to rise.
Thus, overall, Deco’s performance as the Sporting Director of Barcelona has been quite satisfactory.
