Monchi says no to Barcelona Director of Football role

Martin Macdonald

• Updated: 19 May 2021 11:54 BST
• 2 min read

Sevilla Sporting Director Monchi says he has no interest in leaving the club for a similar role at Barcelona should he be headhunted in the summer.

With the Blaugrana having exiled former president Josep Maria Bartomeu, they will soon hold elections to bring in a new president, who will likely oversee an overhaul of the club hierarchy at the conclusion of the current campaign.

Barcelona are currently a mess both on and off the pitch, with them down in fourth in La Liga and looking likely to be knocked out of the Champions League at the first knockout stage by Paris Saint-Germain.

On the business side of things, they have debts that are spiralling to dangerous amounts, so much so that they will struggle to keep hold of star player Lionel Messi this summer.

With a likely rebuild to come, Monchi has been mentioned as a potential candidate to be the new director of football following his exploits with Sevilla.

But, the man himself claims he is not interested.

“I don’t I give much importance to those issues,” he told Estadio Deportivo about the Barcelona rumours.

“I am much more concerned with the present. I read it, I see it and little else. I am where I want to be; where I am fulfilled, super happy.”

Monchi goes on to reiterate that he and his family and settled and happy in Andalusia, which will further dent and hopes Barcelona have of poaching him from Sevilla.

“I am happy and happy, which is what is important to me,” he added.

“My people are too, my family, and that’s the important thing. Sometimes that is priceless.”

Monchi has developed a reputation as one of the most talented sporting directors in Europe, regularly overseeing squad overhauls for Los Nervionenses so that the club gets as high a price as possible for departing talent, while pulling off shrewd incomings.

He left Sevilla to take over the same role at Roma for a short period, but after it didn’t work out to he returned to work in La Liga.