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Barcelona president Laporta announces his director of football

Joan Laporta, FC Barcelona
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Less than 24 hours after being elected as FC Barcelona president for a second time, Laporta has already announced his new director of football.

Joan Laporta has confirmed plans for Mateu Alemany to join Barcelona as the new director of football as part of his restructuring process.

The 58-year-old has won a second term as the club’s president after winning Sunday’s elections by a landslide. He claimed 54.28% of the 55,611 votes to beat fellow candidates Victor Font (29.99%) and Toni Freixa (8.58%).

Since Laporta’s re-appointment was confirmed, attention has turned to his short and long-term plans. Unsurprisingly, it’s dominated headlines with speculation rife on how he plans to restore Barcelona back to the same state that he left the club in 2010.

Ferran Reverter will become the club’s new CEO, with former Valencia general director Mateu Alemany set to assume a similar role at Camp Nou.

“At Barca, we have always had an executive who prepares the ground for when the president will represent the club,” Laporta told Catalan radio station RAC1.

“He will also support the technical secretary because Mateu is a senior football executive and I would like him to be linked. I highly value his knowledge; he is a person who is very up-to-date with how football is today and we will soon have a conversation to sign him.”

Alemany was last involved in football back in 2019 following a two-and-a-half-year spell at Valencia. The Spaniard, alongside then-manager Marcelino, helped Los Che qualify for the Champions League and win the Copa del Rey.

Shortly after Marcelino’s dismissal, however, Alemany left Valencia following a meeting with club owner Peter Lim.

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