Former Barcelona midfielder Deco was announced as the club’s sporting director in August 2023.
In his second season at the position, he oversaw the club win a La Liga and Copa del Rey double, as well as the Supercopa de Espana.
Barcelona have only spent big once since Deco’s arrival, Dani Olmo arriving for €55 million in the summer of 2024.
They have also seen teenage sensation Lamine Yamal develop through the ranks.
Comparisons with Lionel Messi have been rife.
Raphinha has also turned into a superstar and a genuine Ballon d’Or contender for the 2024/25 season.
There have been some questionable decisions from Barcelona’s board in recent years, with an array of big money transfer flops.
Antoine Griezmann, Philippe Coutinho and Ousmane Dembélé are listed the club’s three most expensive transfers.
They all arrived in a three-year period and none of them had successful careers at the club.
Between the three of them, they played 593 games for Barcelona in all competitions.
They only combined for 100 goals and 62 assists between them.
These stats do not represent money well spent given that they cost a combined €390 million.
This was a difficult period for the club, defined by their back-to-back years of Champions League collapses against Roma and Liverpool.
Despite a 4-1 first leg win against Roma in the 2018 quarter-final and a 3-0 first leg win over Liverpool in the 2019 semi-final, Barcelona did not advance in either of these two legged affairs.
Fast forward to 2025 and the good times are back at the club after some financial difficulties.
Marcus Rashford has spoken of desire to play with Yamal at Barcelona.
Athletic Bilbao forward Nico Williams is also reportedly close to a move to the club.
Despite all of the potential incomings, there have also been plenty of rumours of players going the other way.
So far, only defenders Álex Valle and Clément Lenglet as well as midfielder Alex Garrido have departed.
Deco rules out Barcelona defender exit
Speaking to Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia, Deco denied any possibility of centre-back Ronald Araujo leaving the club.
It will be a tall order for Araujo to break into Hansi Flick’s starting back four.
Despite this, one of their greatest midfielders is confident in his ability.
🚨🔵🔴 Barça director Deco closes doors to Ronald Araujo exit: “One centre back will leave but Ronald is not in our plans to leave, and he received unfair criticism last year”.
“He’s one of the best defenders in the world”, told @LaVanguardia. pic.twitter.com/lqriDRsNA0
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) June 22, 2025
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