Barcelona have responded to reports in Spanish media suggesting sporting director Deco is considering leaving the club following a difficult summer transfer window.
Barca signed Dani Olmo and Pau Victor this summer, but saw their efforts to sign a left winger, a holding midfielder and a defender frustrated by their ongoing financial problems.
Spanish sports newspaper Diario Sport reported on Sunday that those problems have led Deco, who took over last year, to consider leaving the club.
“We categorically deny the news that appeared on September 1 in the Diario Sport newspaper that casts doubt on the continuity of our sporting director,” Barça said in a statement.
“In response to the article entitled 'Deco disappointed, contemplating his future', the club would like to state that it could not be happier with the work Deco is doing and to refute this article which appeared at the end of the transfer window.”
Deco also addressed the club's statement when asked for comment by ESPN.
The former Portugal international left his job as an agent last year to become Barca's sporting director, first working alongside Mateu Alemany and then on his own when Alemany left the club last September.
However, their efforts have been hampered by the club's difficult financial situation.
Although Barca still exceeds its annual spending limit (all clubs in Spain are subject to a cap that is roughly determined by the difference between a team's revenue minus non-sporting expenses and debt payments), it can only spend a percentage of what it saves on wages, increases in transfer fees or brings in through new revenue streams.
Before the summer, LaLiga revealed that Barca's salary cap was just over 200 million euros ($221 million), with sources telling ESPN that From the Blaugrana The costs of the squad were around 400 million euros.
Despite this, they managed to sign Olmo from RB Leipzig for €55m, although financial constraints meant he missed the first two games of the season as the wait for his registration to be processed dragged on.
Barca finally signed Olmo last week, taking advantage of a rule that allows the club to exceed its limit in the event of a player being ruled out long-term through injury, in this case Andreas Christensen.
Young forward Pau Victor also arrived from Girona this summer for €2.5m, but sources told ESPN that Barca would have liked to bring in more players.
They considered signing Federico Chiesa, who eventually left for Liverpool, and lost Stefan Bajcetic to Liverpool after making a late bid to sign the Spanish midfielder when Marc Bernal tore his ACL.
João Cancelo was another target to go elsewhere, with the full-back signing for Saudi Arabian Pro League club Al Hilal, while Bayer Leverkusen centre-back Jonathan Tah has also been linked.
Barça president Joan Laporta is scheduled to appear at a press conference on Tuesday to discuss the club's activity in the transfer window.
