mate alemany will leave Barça on June 30. From ‘Mateu Padremany’ to ‘Adeu Alemany’. The best signing Laporta made before winning the election for the second time leaves with the commitment to Close all market trades. He still had a contract until 2024, but that will not continue. He has a great offer on the table of the Astonville, which is building a spectacular sports project and wants to be a European reference in the coming years. In Birmingham you have stability that you can work with Unai Emery, will have full power to sign, without restrictions, or obstacles, or conditional legacies, the best players for whom English money can pay. It’s not closed, but it’s almost crystallizing. As Del Bosque says: “What happens is useful”.
Mateu leaves Barça and raises the flag. After the hereditary downfall, bordering on bankruptcy and with the ‘fair play’ strangling the club on signings, renewals or registrations, the Spaniard has been key to being coherent with himself. Mateu always went out to dance in the middle of a crisis. When he had a piece of free track, he closed “cheap” operations: Christensen (good, tasty and cheap), Kessié, Marcos Alonso (no costs) or Íñigo Martínez (approved). When they gave him new shoes, he closed Raphinha (Chelsea paid more), Lewandowski or Koundé (Chelsea also paid more). And when he didn’t have shoes or a job, he always danced with the ugliest. Play ‘bad cop’. He saved the club money (Griezmann, Memphis, ‘Auba’), eliminated players who didn’t want to leave (Umtiti, Trincao), cut money by renewing down (Roberto) and when he tightened the rope, he did it by his position above his reputation. The wear and tear, enormous.
Mateu ‘Padremany’ loses the M. Now it’s ‘Adeu Alemany’. He leaves with his duty done. In a low-minimum club, he designed a competitive club and bought, signed, sold or transferred, breaking a record of operations in the club’s history.. All conditioned. All with bad cards. All designed to lose as little money as possible. Mateu has had to fight a “fair play” that is stifling the club and persist in situations where he has been unyielding so that the expense account doesn’t get fatter and thicker. If you’ve had to haggle, you have. If it was supposed to be unpleasant, it was. And if you’ve had to say “no” where others would rather say “yes,” you’ve done it. His final service to the club, finalizing operations on track (Íñigo, Gundogan and we’ll see if Carrasco), presenting a viability plan and submitting a wage bill. Easy to say, hard to do.
Matthew leaves. There will be a thousand rumors about his farewell. Some true, others fabulous and others remote controllable. He leaves because he knows it’s not time to sweeten the truth and because he has been suffering from significant emotional exhaustion for months. He leaves after completing a professional stage where he swallowed multiple toads without blinking and where he resolved as many brown ones as possible. Laporta loses his special ‘Señor Lobo’. The man who has done a good job for him in the shadows leaves. An ungrateful and efficient one. Now Mateu is looking for autonomy, free hands, a stable club and full powers to be the architect of an ambitious project. at Barca, Good luck to whoever replaces him. You’ll need it.
Reuben Uria
Source: Goal