Barcelona Sporting Director Deco has eased the club away from Bayer Leverkusen’s Jonathan Tah, who is one of the most coveted central defenders in Europe. The Germany international is a free agent next summer, and able to sign a precontract in January, after deciding not ot renew his contract with Bayer Leverkusen.
He was expected to make a move to Bayern Munich in the summer, but after the two clubs could not reach an agreement, the deal collapsed. Barcelona made a late move for him, as Deco has confirmed.
“The dynamics in a squad change. There are times when you think one thing out of need, that thought is generated, but then, during the season, things happen because in football a year, although it seems like a short time, is a lot. In this case we are not planning any signings now,” he told MD.
Deco: "When Laporta is not here anymore, I won't be here anymore either. For now, as long as I'm doing my job well and I'm happy, and if there's nothing personal to condition me, I'll stay."
— barcacentre (@barcacentre) November 14, 2024
However he felt that they did not need to move for him again.
“We have [Ronald] Araujo, who will return, [Andreas] Christensen, Eric [Garcia], [Pau]Cubarsi and Inigo [Martinez]. There will come a time when we will plan what we are going to do in the future but now we will not make a decision.
“At the time we went for him because [Marc] Bernal’s injury meant that Eric, a centre-back, moved forward to play as a pivot since we had almost none. [Marc] Casado was more of an ‘8’ than a ‘6’, Gavi had not returned from his injury and all this conditioned a decision at the moment. But the decisions of the moment, if they can’t be made, it’s not that you have to make them next year. The dynamics change and today we are happy with what we have.”
🗣️ Deco on #FCBarcelona's search for a Robert Lewandowski successor:
"It's not a priority because we have to focus on this season. Of course we have to do the work of the future, but if we are working more on the future, we forget about the present."
"We have to think about… pic.twitter.com/gz0tklov9d
— Football España (@footballespana_) November 13, 2024
On the flipside of Deco’s words, there is no certainty how many of those players will be back next season. Eric, Araujo and Christensen are all out of contract in the summer of 2026, and if the Blaugrana cannot secure new deals for them, then they will likely try to sell them on in 2025. Recent reports have claimed that manager Hansi Flick is trying to persuade Tah to join the Catalan giants, who is on the radar of Bayern and Real Madrid still.
