Mateu Alemany

[TRO]

38 minutes ago, KAZZAM said:

Might be overall control of the V sports transfer business that might of tempted him. 

A transfer empire of such. 

+ more money ofc. 

Now, That sounds feasible.....Director of traffic, in and out, of all the clubs.

[Tomaszk]

Looking forward to reading/hearing some knowledgeable words on this (so not from the likes of Guillem Balague).

Is he a negotiator? A scout?

I believe he was banging the drum for all the players to change their contracts when there was no legal basis to. De Jong, Dembele and the like.

[MNVillan]

1 hour ago, Rodders said:

Who is he? Coach? DoF?

I think he’s been brought in to wear the Hercules costume

[Rustibrooks]

Just scanning through Reddit, I haven’t seen a bad word about him from Barca fans so I guess that’s a good thing

[pete101]

10 minutes ago, Rustibrooks said:

Just scanning through Reddit, I haven’t seen a bad word about him from Barca fans so I guess that’s a good thing

Looking through a Barca fourm also, they seem to believe he was against the return of Messi and this is one of reasons he is leaving 

[villarule123]

We're back baby. 

[JAMAICAN-VILLAN]

2 hours ago, Tomaszk said:

Looking forward to reading/hearing some knowledgeable words on this (so not from the likes of Guillem Balague).

Is he a negotiator? A scout?

I believe he was banging the drum for all the players to change their contracts when there was no legal basis to. De Jong, Dembele and the like.

Misha, one of our proper on it contributors found and posted this on Facebook:

" This was a piece written for Barca fans upon him joining. Very interesting...

 

Who is Mateu Alemany, the current sporting director of FC Barcelona?

 

As we’re getting into the January transfer window, we’re increasingly hearing one name: Mateu Alemany. But who is he?

 

Coincidentally, Mateu Alemany was a lawyer just like Laporta. And their relationship goes back to the early 2000s — when Alemany was the president of Real Mallorca.

 

Alemany’s sporting career path starts in 1990 as an assistant to the Real Mallorca's management and he experienced important institutional changes. 10 years later, he was already appointed the president of the club (because the president of Real Mallorca at that time, Guillem Reynés, gave him the club’s presidency in order to avoid Alemany’s goodbye).

 

“He’s a killer, the number one,” said a source close to Alemany. “Many people shake the tree hoping for fruit to fall. Not him, he goes right up and takes the apple he wants.”

 

As president, Mateu Alemany achieved the team’s greatest achievement at a sporting level, the victory in the Copa del Rey in 2003. And the star of the team was someone culés are familiar with: Samuel Eto'o, who he bought for around seven million euros and then sold for 24m euros to none other than Laporta himself at FC Barcelona.

 

Also worth mentioning is that as Florentino Pérez won the elections for the presidency of Real Madrid in 2000, he offered Mateu Alemany the position of General Manager of the club, which he rejected. 

 

Alemany is known for his competitive nature, hating losing at golf or padel, his two favourite pastimes to destress. He is also known for taking big risks when he feels it’s needed and necessary. His Valencia tenure (as a CEO, 2017-19) is an example of such an approach.

 

Alemany joined Valencia in the spring of 2017 — it was as a result of a recommendation from LaLiga president Javier Tebas to Peter Lim (owner of Valencia CF) to give his struggling project a major boost. With Valencia languishing in the lower half of the table, Alemany had a major rebuild on his hands.

 

Alemany’s strategy in his first year was a high risk: spend big on the playing squad and bank on qualifying for the Champions League. It paid off — Valencia consecutively finished 4th place for 2017/18 and 2018/19 seasons (not to mention, Valencia had finished 12th place for 2016/17 season).

 

And I’d finish this post with the poetic quote from MARCA:

 

“He takes the helm at Barcelona in the midst of a storm, but he has weathered adverse conditions before in Palma [Mallorca] and Valencia, always looking to the Mediterranean, where he has never yet capsized.” "

[KMitch]

3 hours ago, Rustibrooks said:

Just scanning through Reddit, I haven’t seen a bad word about him from Barca fans so I guess that’s a good thing

The Barcelona subreddit is on suicide watch right now.  They're stunned that little ole' Aston Fookin' Villa is stealing their prized DOF from them. 

"Why would he go to Villa?  They don't have oil money..."

[sne]

Barcas transfer strategy feels kinda similar to Chelsea under Boehly as in sign all the players without having any plan With the added bonus that Barca have no money. Clubs is disaster so no idea how much of that strategy falls on Alemany. Results on and off the pitch have been catastrophic. Winning the league this year changes little. Maybe it's just their managers who are to blame

Also no idea how responsible he is for the clusterf''k situation that is Gave but would be quite amusing if he could use that in his role here and bring Gavi to Villa on a free on a technicality  

[PerryBarrPet]

Replacement for Christian Purslow?

[Delphinho123]

Does this mean we can sign Dani Olmo, Raphinha, Fati and Gavi?

[Don_Simon]

1 hour ago, sne said:

Barcas transfer strategy feels kinda similar to Chelsea under Boehly as in sign all the players without having any plan With the added bonus that Barca have no money. Clubs is disaster so no idea how much of that strategy falls on Alemany. Results on and off the pitch have been catastrophic. Winning the league this year changes little. Maybe it's just their managers who are to blame

Also no idea how responsible he is for the clusterf''k situation that is Gave but would be quite amusing if he could use that in his role here and bring Gavi to Villa on a free on a technicality  

Tough guy to please.

[DaveAV1]

8 hours ago, Demitri_C said:

Alemany signings you think he will make?

Coat for Dem. 

[villan-scott]

Tom Collomosse reporting it also - although quoting Spanish sources. He doesn’t usually get involved in too much Villa speculation - more when there is substance 

 

[Delphinho123]

2 minutes ago, villan-scott said:

Tom Collomosse reporting it also - although quoting Spanish sources. He doesn’t usually get involved in too much Villa speculation - more when there is substance 

 

As good as done then I’d say. He’s usually spot on and you’re right, doesn’t mess around with speculation. 

[WallisFrizz]

So, practically speaking. Can a sporting director work for two clubs during the same window? If he is committed to completing Barca transfer business this summer, what does that mean for us? Will he be arranging deals for both clubs? Or will he not impact our summer at all (which I would find hard to believe)?

[Ghost]

3 hours ago, KMitch said:

The Barcelona subreddit is on suicide watch right now.  They're stunned that little ole' Aston Fookin' Villa is stealing their prized DOF from them. 

"Why would he go to Villa?  They don't have oil money..."

Wow, I checked out that subreddit as well, and him leaving is universally being seen as a massive loss for them.

Sounds promising for us, if true.

[Delphinho123]

The most exciting thing about all this is the reason he’s coming here. It’s all well and good bringing in high quality people in powerful positions, but you still need to give them the tools to succeed.

This guy seems like he could pick any club in the world to go and work at and yet he’s ended up here…. Why? What has he been promised?

Super exciting. 

Edited May 3, 2023 by Delphinho123

[CVByrne]

I think we're making a clear direction for the club. We want to be taking the best young players from Iberia to come to us in the PL. Lots of Spanish speaking players at Villa. A Spanish Coach who is renowned for improving players and a modern systems coach. We hopefully will now have a skilled DoF to negotiate all of this and get deals over the line. Hopefully also opens up new loan pathways for younger players to go to Spain or Portugal

[It's Your Round]

Sounds like great news, Aston Villa are serious about delivering success. To poach a key component from Barcelona, while he’s in his prime and not some has been, is a very positive step. 

Meanwhile the headlines all focus on how poor Chelsea are and how angry Klopp is, we just go about our business, quietly, professionally, ruthlessly.