FC BARCELONA
Xavi and Deco meet to discuss FC Barcelona’s plans for next season
A Spanish radio station has confirmed that the two have had their first contact to discuss how to plan for next season.
Barcelona can finally be crowned champions of LaLiga this weekend with a positive result against Espanyol and for this reason they are already working on how to plan for next season. With the expected exit of Mateu Alemany to Aston Villa, the Catalan club appear to have reacted rapidly and already have a replacement in mind.
The man waiting in the wings is none other than ex-Barça and Chelsea midfielder, Deco. The Portuguese has still not officially been named as the club’s sporting director, as Alemany will continue in his current role until the end of the season. However, Deco is indeed having meetings with those at Barcelona in order to set straight the objectives and solutions for the upcoming campaign. Big names are leaving, such as that of Sergio Busquets, and the club need to find a way to adapt to the changes that will occur.
Xavi wants to renew Dembélé
In fact, according to information revealed by Cadena SER’s programme, Què T’hi Jugues, the first meeting between Deco and Xavi has already taken place. The meeting was held between the two protagonists as well as Xavi’s brother (Barça’s assistant coach), Óscar Hernández and Alejandro Echevarría, someone close to Deco and Laporta’s ex-brother-in-law.
One person who was not present was Jordi Cruyff. In this first meeting, the Barça manager made it clear who would be his close allies when it comes to shaping the club for next season. High on the list of questions are the renewal of Dembélé, as well as any possible incomings and outgoings. The club are also awaiting the green light from LaLiga for their economic viability plan which will determine how they can act in terms of transfers over the summer. League president Javier Tebas spoke about this last week.
Barça have already discussed 23/24 summer transfers
Deco arrived in Barcelona last week, as he wants to get ahead of the curve before being officially announced as a member of the team. Xavi’s meeting with the Portuguese was not the first that the manager has had regarding next season: Laporta and Echevarría were present at a dinner with Xavi in order to discuss the squad. As for Xavi himself, his renewal should be done and dusted once Barça win the league.
Deco will have a lot of work ahead, as the club still swim in uncertain waters in terms of their finances, and they must reduce the salary limit drastically if they are to have any form of wiggle room within the financial fair play restrictions. This idea is helped by the fact that they believe the team can compete once again for LaLiga and go even further in European competition next season. And there is a certain Argentinian forward who might want a bus ticket to Camp Nou...
LaLiga Santander 2022/2023
| Classification | PTS | WM | TM | LM |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1Barcelona | 82 | 26 | 4 | 3 |
| 2Atlético | 69 | 21 | 6 | 6 |
| 3Real Madrid | 68 | 21 | 5 | 7 |
| Upcoming matches | |
|---|---|
| Espanyol - Barcelona | S-14/05 15:00 |
| Barcelona - R. Sociedad | S-20/05 15:00 |
| Real Valladolid - Barcelona | T-23/05 16:00 |
*Data updated to date May 12th, 2023