Former Real Betis Director tipped as frontrunner to replace Mateu Alemany at Barcelona | OneFootball

On Tuesday, Barcelona announced the shock news that Mateu Alemany would be steeping down from his role as Director of Football at the end of the season.

Alemany, who is leaving to pursue a new professional project, took the role in 2021, and his recruitment has helped Barcelona look on course to secure their first La Liga title in four years this season.

Catalunya Radio (via Relevo) have reported that Aston Villa are looking to recruit Alemany, although it has yet to be confirmed where he will end up at the end of the summer.

Relevo have also reported that Antonio Cordon is best-placed to succeed Alemany. Cordon was recently at Real Betis, where he was in a similar role to the one that Alemany occupies at Barcelona.

Before Betis, Cordon was Sporting Director at AS Monaco, where he was credited with overhauling the sporting structure at the club, and that helped them win the Ligue 1 title in 2017. He also convinced the Monegasque club’s hierarchy to take a chance on Kylian Mbappe, who was sold to Paris Saint-Germain a year later for €180m.

Cordon took over as Betis’ Director of Football in July 2020, with Los Verdiblancos having just finished 15th in the La Liga table. In the two full seasons since, he helped them qualify for the Europa League. Betis also look on course for European football again this season.

Cordon helped bring the likes of Juan Miranda, Rui Silva, German Pezzella and Luiz Felipe in at Betis, while he also had success in the Brazilian market, with Luiz Henrique and Abner being signed this season.

Cordon was credited with being one of the men to turn around Betis’ fortunes in recent years, and these experiences would make him a solid candidate to take over as Barcelona’s Director of Football in the summer.