Deco turns summer departures into nearly €100m for Barcelona
Deco sold stakes and completed multiple exits to generate nearly €100m while Barcelona spent about €170m on arrivals.
Barcelona’s sporting director Anderson Luís de Souza (Deco) converted a busy transfer window into almost €100 million in incoming fees by moving several squad members and selling stakes in young talents.
Decisions on youth and big departures reshaped the wage bill
As part of a strategy to both monitor development and raise funds, Deco sold 50% of the contracts of youngsters Héctor Fort and Toni Fernández. Real Sociedad paid €8,000,000 for half of Fort’s rights after his loan at Elche and a chance in preseason, while Venezia paid €4,000,000 for 50% of Toni Fernández with Barcelona retaining a buy-back option.
The sporting director closed a total of ten exits this summer. Among the departures were Robert Lewandowski — who left as a free agent — Ronald Araújo, who moved on loan to Liverpool, and Ansu Fati, who joined Monaco for €11,000,000. Those moves, together with others, cleared substantial room on the club’s payroll.
Other outgoing deals included goalkeeper Iñaki Peña to Panathinaikos for €3,000,000 and a loan for Marc-André ter Stegen to Ajax. Ferran Torres was sold to Paris Saint-Germain for €50,000,000, while youngsters Tomy Márquez and Jefri Torrents brought in €12,000,000 and €6,000,000 from Braga and Ajax respectively.
When the numbers are added up, Barcelona received slightly less than €100,000,000 from the listed departures. Club officials stress that the most consequential effect is the savings on individual salaries — with Lewandowski and ter Stegen among the highest earners and Araújo ranking in the top five.
On the incoming side, Deco registered a notable outlay: Barcelona spent just over €170,000,000 on new signings, including bonuses. The arrivals this summer included Gordon, Karim Adeyemi, Rodri, João Cancelo and Dominik Livaković, while Jesse Bisiva was registered for the B team.
Sporting director Deco’s double approach — trimming the wage bill while investing in new personnel — leaves Barcelona with greater financial flexibility but also a reshaped squad going into the season.
Photo: press material from the event
