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Barcelona hire Ramón Planes as sporting director

By Chiranjib Ghosh

MADRID, SPAIN - JANUARY 16: Ramon Planes and Leandro Daniel Cabrera attend press conference on January 16, 2018 in Madrid, Spain. (Photo by Juan Naharro Gimenez/ Getty Images)
MADRID, SPAIN - JANUARY 16: Ramon Planes and Leandro Daniel Cabrera attend press conference on January 16, 2018 in Madrid, Spain. (Photo by Juan Naharro Gimenez/ Getty Images) /
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Ramón Planes announced as replacement for Raül Sanllehí

GETAFE, SPAIN – JULY 21: Ramon Planes Sports Director of Getafe C.F. S.A.D. look towards the club’s new signing Gaku Shibasaki during an unveiling to the press at Coliseum Alfonso Perez on July 21, 2017 in Getafe, Spain. (Photo by Denis Doyle/Getty Images)
GETAFE, SPAIN – JULY 21: Ramon Planes Sports Director of Getafe C.F. S.A.D. look towards the club’s new signing Gaku Shibasaki during an unveiling to the press at Coliseum Alfonso Perez on July 21, 2017 in Getafe, Spain. (Photo by Denis Doyle/Getty Images) /

Last January, Arsenal announced that they had signed Raül Sanllehí as a sporting director, to replace long-time scout and negotiator Dick Law resigned after 8 seasons with the Gunners. This left a huge void in Barça’s management team.

Raül Sanllehí was key in some of Barcelona’s important signings in recent seasons, including Neymar, Luis Suárez, Marc-André ter Stegen and more recently, Samuel Umtiti. He was also crucial in negotiations of new contracts for several important first-team players, including Lionel Messi.

But now, the club has found an adequate replacement for the the 49-year old, in the form of former Getafe sporting director Ramón Planes. The 50-year old former scout has an eye for spotting talent, having brought in young players like Amath Diedhiou and Djené to the Coliseum Alfonso Pérez.

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Barça president Josep Maria Bartomeu kept his Getafe counterpart Ángel Torres up to speed with the negotiations. But Torres’ hands were fettered that there was no clause in Planas’ contract which prevented him from leaving without compensation.

Ramón Planes will be working closely with new technical secretary Éric Abidal. Since the role of sporting director is beneath that of the technical secretary, Planes will be assisting Abidal in negotiations with other clubs and agents.

But it is Abidal who will be learning from Planes. This is the Frenchman’s first executive role at any club, and he does not know much about the art of negotiating with big clubs, unlike Ramón Planes, who recently negotiated Getafe goalkeeper Vicente Guaita’s departure with Crystal Palace.

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Abidal and Planas will be presented together. Both of them have signed three-year contracts with the club. This pair is expected to co-operate with Ernesto Valverde and his coaching staff to work on transfer targets.

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