FC Barcelona have confirmed Ramon Planes will replace the ousted Eric Abidal as their new technical director.
Barcelona’s revolution continued on Tuesday by firing Eric Abidal as their sporting director just one day after relieving Quique Setien as manager.
The Frenchman, who formerly played for the club itself between 2007 and 2013, held the sporting director post for two years upon replacing Robert Fernandez. Failures to re-sign Neymar or lure any other big names, however, didn’t do him any favors.
He could’ve lost his job this year upon infuriating Lionel Messi by suggesting players weren’t working hard enough under former boss Ernesto Valverde. However, he clung to his position until Tuesday as part of the ‘wider restructuring’ process going on at Camp Nou.
Now Barcelona have confirmed that Abidal’s assistant, Ramon Planes, will replace him in a brief statement on their website.
❗ LATEST NEWS – Ramon Planes, new technical director for Barça pic.twitter.com/JQq6Z9r7xb
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) August 19, 2020
The Catalan had been of interest to new AS Roma owner Dan Friedkin, but he’s decided to remain at Camp Nou instead.
Planes, of course, has extensive experience in Spanish football. He started out as a sporting director for Catalan club Hospitalet in 1999 before joining Racing Santander in 2003.
After brief spells with Deportivo Alaves and Lleida, he signed for Espanyol in 2007. It was his big break, where he rose from technical secretary to the sporting director role until November 2012.
Planes later had spells with Tottenham, Elche, Rayo Vallecano, and Getafe before joining Abidal at Barcelona in 2018.
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