Xavi promised HUGE signing by Barcelona director of football

Tom Weber

• Updated: 4 May 2023 19:04 BST
• 3 min read

Outgoing Barcelona director of football Mateu Alemany has promised Xavi that he will complete a star signing before his departure.

The Blaugrana announced on Tuesday that Alemany would leave the Camp Nou on June 30 to take charge of a new footballing project. The assignment in question is believed to be Aston Villa, who are said to have made an 'astronomical' offer for the 60-year-old.

Despite formally departing at the end of June, Alemany has informally pledged to oversee Barcelona's business for the entirety of the summer window, meaning that this leadership shake-up won't - or shouldn't - influence the Blaugrana's plans for the upcoming months.

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In addition to his pledge, Alemany has promised head coach Xavi that he will complete a star signing before leaving, and reports in Spain now claim to know which player the 60-year-old wants to bring in.

Carrasco, not Messi

Though rumours about Lionel Messi's future continue to abound, Alemany's promise does not concern the seven-time Ballon d'Or winner seeing as though Barcelona will have a hard time affording the Argentine. Instead, he told Xavi that he will sign Atletico Madrid's Yannic Carrasco, who has long been linked with a move to the Camp Nou.

Barcelona managed to procure a €19 million purchase option for Carrasco when Memphis Depay made the switch to Madrid, but Alemany is keen to lower that figure to around €10m, according to Fichajes.

It is a similar situation to when Atleti loaned Antoine Griezmann and then went back to the negotiating table to revise the deal's purchase option - Barcelona granted Diego Simeone's side that favour, now they expect something similar in return.

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Furthermore, TalkSport claims that Alemany could facilitate the move of Ferran Torres to his new club Aston Villa. This would go some way towards balancing Barcelona's books, but the 60-year-old will have to offload several more players in order for the club to be able to afford Lionel Messi's salary.