Candidates to replace Mateu Alemany at Barcelona

Mateu Alemany's impending Barcelona departure and Aston Villa's subsequent swoop is indicative of the Premier League's current financial might.

The Villans, who are currently on the upsurge under Unai Emery, were able to entice the respected director to Villa Park with a contract offer the Catalans couldn't come close to matching.

The 60-year-old Spaniard has built an impressive reputation thanks to his work at Valencia and Barcelona amid a mightily difficult financial period for the club. His exit will allow another cloud of uncertainty to form over Catalonia ahead of the summer transfer window, with the club needing to move fast in order to secure a replacement of some sort.

Here are three potential candidates.

1. Deco

The former Barcelona star has quickly emerged as the favourite to replace Alemany.

Deco, who spent four years at the club as a player, has retained a strong relationship with president Joan Laporta since his retirement and he recently took on the role as Barça’s talent specialist in Brazil and in Portugal.

However, much of his work since he hung up his boots has come in the sports agency business. Deco played a crucial role in Barcelona securing the signings of Raphinha and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, but he has no prior experience as a director.

While Laporta clearly has a lot of faith in the 45-year-old, it'd be a huge risk to appoint a novice given the club's precarious situation.

2. Antonio Cordon

Many may have expected Barcelona to make a move for the widely respected Spanish director Antonio Cordon, who has heaps of experience and is available after leaving his role at Real Betis in February.

Barcelona have been linked with the 59-year-old, who was Villarreal's sporting director for 17 years amid the most successful period in the club's history, since his Betis exit, but he will not be succeeding Alemany in Catalonia.

According to Sport, Barça have already ruled Cordon out of the race.

3. Michael Edwards

Michael Edwards is the name that every big club in need of a sporting director will undoubtedly consider first.

Edwards was the mastermind behind Liverpool's bold but savvy recruitment strategy that helped them evolve into a juggernaut under Jurgen Klopp. He was able to flog fan favourite Philippe Coutinho to Barça for an astronomical fee and help Klopp build a title-winning outfit with the profits made.

He departed Liverpool in 2022 and describes himself as being "on a break" on his Linkedin page. An offer from Barcelona would surely be tempting, but given that they weren't interested in bringing in Cordon, it seems unlikely that Laporta would move to bring in Edwards given the projected finances involved.

Thus, if the reports are true, novice Deco is firmly in pole position to be Barcelona's next Director of Football.