Barça's Deco plays down Haaland, Gyökeres talk
Barcelona sporting director Deco has given an indication that his club is not looking to make any big signings in the upcoming transfer windows.
Under coach Hansi Flick, Barça lead LaLiga and are on course to qualify automatically for the round of 16 of the Champions League.
Deco played down reports that Barça are closely monitoring Manchester City‘s Erling Haaland and Sporting CP star Viktor Gyökeres.
He told El Mundo Deportivo: “First we have to know whether Haaland is what we want for the future. We don’t know that now. At the moment we don’t want any ‘nine.’ We have Robert [Lewandowski.] We are not planning anything with any ‘nine.’ It’s not a priority because we have to focus on this season.”
Gyokeres was instrumental in Sporting CP winning the Portuguese league last term and has delivered 23 goals in 18 club appearances this season.
“Gyokeres is a good player,” Deco said. “He has been scoring goals for some time in Portugal. We know him as we know others but it’s not a priority for us right now.
“When the time comes to make a decision and I have to make it because I am the one at the club, we will consider the options. But I don’t think it’s the right time to talk about any player.”
Barça have the best attack in LaLiga, with their veteran forward Robert Lewandowski leading the scoring charts with 14 goals.
Lewandowski, 36, has a contract with Barça through June 2026 with an option to extend it for a further season.
“I think it’s very difficult to find a striker like Robert nowadays,” Deco said of the Poland captain. “There are one or two of this level. Maybe Haaland or another one. There are not so many of this level available. But we are not going to get hung up on finding any striker now because we are going to focus first on what Robert can do. I surely think he is happy to be here. He is a winner and if we have a big season I think he will want to stay.
“We want Robert to continue to be happy, to score goals and to stay at least one more season.”
Deco, meanwhile, confirmed Barça are no longer interested in Spanish forward Nico Williams. Nico turned down a move to the Camp Nou in the summer to remain at Athletic Club.
“We were interested in Nico during the summer,” Deco said. “We tried, but after that, the player made a decision and life goes on. The moment the player shows that he is not interested in coming, we don’t talk about it anymore.
“We brought in Dani Olmo, who was the priority because we didn’t have this player in the squad.”
As for Barça’s backline, Deco says his team is covered.
The club already brought in Polish goalkeeper Wojciech Szczęsny last month after losing starting goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen to a serious knee injury.
Szczęsny joined as a free agent and signed a contract until the end of the season.
Amid ongoing rumours that Barça are interested in FC Porto keeper Diogo Costa for next summer, Deco said: “Marc still has three years left on his contract. He is young for a goalkeeper, 32 years old, and we have to focus on him recovering well and coming back well. If I was Diogo [Costa], I don’t know if I would join Barcelona to be an understudy.”
Deco has also ruled out an approach for Bayer Leverkusen centre-back Jonathan Tah.
Tah, whose contract with Bayer expires at the end of the season, will be able to negotiate with other teams once the transfer window opens.
“In this case we are not planning any signings now,” Deco said. “We have [Ronald] Araújo, who will be back, [Andreas] Christensen, Eric [García], [Pau] Cubarsí and Iñigo [Martínez]. The time will come when we will plan what we are going to do in the future but we are not going to make a decision now.”
