Laporta and Deco have been leading Barcelona’s new sporting project / JAVI FERRANDIZ / SPO
Joaquim Piera
Barcelona is positioning itself for a transfer window that will be one of continuity rather than revolution. The club has set the ambitious goal of strengthening a championship-winning squad with strategic signings that will boost quality and competition in both defense and attack.
As sporting director, Deco has already shown he is not keen on frequent player swaps, which limits the number of operations to be carried out—much to the disappointment of transfer market addicts. Only players who replace departures, clearly improve current performances, and do not hinder La Masia’s production line will be brought in. That academy has been one of the keys to the success of this winning team, which has connected deeply with all Barcelona fans.
Lamine Yamal is the leader of Barcelona’s sporting project / Toni Albir / EFE
The Brazilian-Portuguese executive has perfectly defined guidelines, which he lays out in every contact, inquiry, and meeting he holds with agents and intermediaries. Deco speaks directly and without restraint, just as he did during his playing and agent days, and now in the front office—earning the market’s respect and trust in record time.
The club has made it clear that the cornerstone of this sporting project is Lamine Yamal. At 18, the Catalan-born academy product already has three league titles under his belt. With precocious talent never seen before at Barcelona, he is making history and is destined to take a place among the chosen ones.
Anyone who arrives must help the team, contribute, win titles, and enhance the project—not engage in power struggles or challenge the crown, no matter how expensive the acquisition. In this sense, the failed experience of Zlatan Ibrahimović serves as a cautionary tale. With his enormous ego, he refused to understand the role Leo Messi played, leading to a fleeting stint at Can Barça.
Conversely, the positive example is Deco himself, as Ronaldinho recalled in his Netflix documentary. Deco joined Barça occupying the same number 10 position as Ronnie, having just won the Champions League with Porto, but he worked side by side, enhancing the Gaucho’s strengths. Together, they reached the pinnacle.
There is no room for playing for personal stats or for dual leadership in Hansi Flick’s Barcelona. Deco has already conveyed this message to the professional circles of the two number nines currently best positioned in the blaugrana preferences, even while the season is still underway: Julián Álvarez and João Pedro.
Preserving hierarchy also applies to defending the salary structure. No operation will be made that destabilizes the dressing room or cracks it in the short or medium term. The layers are defined, and the top remains occupied by Lamine Yamal.
What Barcelona is doing is the antithesis of what happened at Real Madrid with the arrival of Kylian Mbappé and his €120 million signing bonus. As predictable—and as the facts have shown—the Frenchman dynamited the team and the dressing room in record time. The disintegration of Los Blancos is a direct consequence of Florentino Pérez, who was stingy with renewals yet placed the former PSG star on a salary level nobody else had reached before.
