Aston Villa-bound director ‘surprisingly’ U-turns ‘after visiting Birmingham’ in blow to summer plans | OneFootball

Barcelona director of football Mateu Alemany is set to snub a move to Aston Villa, according to reports.

It was announced by the Blaugrana earlier this month that he was set to leave his role at the Nou Camp at the end of June, a year before his contract expires.

His departure was expected to be for Aston Villa to work alongside Unai Emery.

According to The Athletic, Alemany is ‘reconsidering his future’ with a move to Villa Park now ‘in jeopardy’.

Alemany met with Barcelona president Joan Laporta on Wednesday which seems to have changed his mind.

Villa offered the 60-year-old a ‘lucrative contract’ ahead of a busy summer transfer window and he visited the club’s training ground last week.

However, Alemany ‘considers the current project in Barcelona as his project, and is open to fulfilling the remaining year of his contract at his current terms’.

The news has also been reported by Fabrizio Romano, who says Alemany is ‘surprisingly set to stay at Barcelona’.

Despite an official announcement of his exit, he is ‘changing his mind’.

Alemany did reach an agreement in principle with Villa but had not put pen to paper and is now ‘expected’ to remain in Catalonia.

Romano adds that the Spaniard will stay on the same terms and has not impacted the appointment of Deco as sporting director.

Deco – who is the agent of Barca winger Raphinha – will join as sporting director with Jordi Cruyff leaving his role at the end of the season.

It has been amusingly put by Spanish journalist Gerard Romero that Alemany ‘changed his mind after visiting Birmingham’ as if he took one look at the place and hopped on the first plane back.