The transfer market opened on July 1, and the Barcelona has managed to sign Joan García, Roony Bardghji, and Marcus Rashford. Right now, the sports management team, led by Deco, is still working on finding new homes for the players that Hansi Flick doesn’t want, but the world of soccer has become so professional in recent years that clubs are not only negotiating for players, but also for managers. In this case, Barça could lose one of the pillars of its organization, Rafa Yuste, as Al Nassr of Saudi Arabia, the club where Cristiano Ronaldo plays, wants to sign the sporting vice president to give him the position of CEO, which would be an important step in his career, but also in financial terms, as everyone knows how well they pay in Saudi Arabia.
Al Nassr wants Rafa Yuste
For several weeks, there has been talk of Al Nassr’s interest in Cristiano Ronaldo in Rafa Yuste, who is currently still the sporting vice president of Barcelona, one of the key figures in the club’s organization and one of Joan Laporta’s trusted confidants. The executive traveled to Japan with the Catalan expedition to be present at the club’s Asian tour, as after beating Vissel Kobe in Japan, they would move on to South Korea to play their last two friendlies: next Thursday against Seoul and on Monday, August 4, against Daegu.
According to Mundo Deportivo, Rafa Yuste will return to Barcelona on Monday, July 28. The club claims that he is returning to Barcelona to work with Deco on the departures of players such as Oriol Romeu and the rest of the players who are not in Hansi Flick’s plans. However, it also suggests that he will continue negotiations with Al Nassr, as they have made him a very attractive offer, which would see him become CEO of the Arab club and also receive a significant salary. This information suggests that Joan Laporta would not stand in the way of his friend’s departure and that Joan Soler would be the favorite candidate to succeed him as sporting vice president.
Joao Félix to Al Nassr
On the other hand, Al Nassr has signed Joao Félix for €50 million. The Portuguese footballer was close to returning to Benfica, where he began a career that looked set to reach the heights, but which is now in freefall. In fact, it should be remembered that he left the Lisbon club to embark on a new adventure at Atlético Madrid when Barcelona signed Joao Félix, but after several seasons under Cholo Simeone, he failed to live up to expectations and his poor relationship with the coach led to him being loaned out on several occasions.
First on loan to Chelsea and then, on the last day of the transfer window, to Barcelona. The same thing happened at both clubs: an exciting start and then a drop in form. The Londoners ended up signing him last summer when they paid around $50 million to Atlético Madrid, but in the winter transfer window he ended up going out on loan to Milan. He failed to win a place in the starting line-up at San Siro and had to return to Stamford Bridge, where they were looking for a way out for him. It looked like he would return to Benfica, but a call from Cristiano Ronaldo and Jorge Jesus convinced him to join Al Nassr in Saudi Arabia, meaning that at the age of 25 he is leaving European football.