Deco admits he's unfit for Barcelona role

Tom Weber

• 5 Feb 2024 20:56 GMT
• 3 min read

Barcelona sporting director Deco has bizarrely admitted that he is not very familiar with the work of Thiago Motta, one of the favourites to become the club's next coach.

Xavi rocked Barcelona fans and club chiefs when he surprisingly announced that he will leave his role as head coach at the end of the season after his side were battered 5-3 by Villarreal. The 44-year-old has overseen a disappointing season so far and believes that a "change of dynamic" is needed to sort out the club's issues.

Speculation about who the Blaugrana's new head coach will be has been rampant, but it seems unlikely that a final decision will be made anytime soon. Indeed, in a recent interview with La Vanguardia, sporting director Deco revealed: “At this moment in time, we haven’t spoken to any coach yet."

“Whoever arrives must follow a line of work and we will hardly accept a team that doesn’t play well and doesn’t want to have the ball," Deco continued. “We will start from that idea, then each coach has his own characteristics, but whoever arrives must have ambition and hunger to do great things.”

Deco's Motta admission

Nevertheless, some favourites to replace Xavi have already crystallised, at least in the media. The likes of ex-Bayern and Germany boss Hansi Flick and former Blaugrana player Thiago Motta, who is doing a brilliant job with Bologna in Serie A, are heavily associated with the Barcelona job.

Motta has his side sitting in a surprising sixth place, having recently overcome a little slump in results with a draw with Milan and a 4-2 win over Sassuolo. However, Deco has strangely admitted that he is not really familiar with his former teammate's body of work.

“I don’t follow Motta’s work much because he’s not at an Italian team that I usually watch. We’re following Marquez because he is here [at Barcelona Atletic]. He is a young coach who is growing despite the difficulties.”

One would think that the recruitment chief at one of the biggest clubs in the world would be intimately familiar with one of the most highly-rated up-and-coming coaches in world football.