The then sports vice president of Barça managed to have a decisive face to face with the player
Part of the board preferred Michael Ballack, but Laporta gave the green light to the arrival of the Portuguese-Brazilian
Many things have been said about the arrival of decoration to Barça in the summer of 2004. However, they had not yet come to light the tricks that the then Barça sports vice president, Sandro Rosell, had to doto achieve the definitive ‘yes’ of the Portuguese-Brazilian, who had better financial proposals from other clubs.
That summer the Euro Cup was being played in Portugal. The Portuguese team had its headquarters at the facilities of the Sporting Clube de Portugal, premises highly ‘guarded’ by journalists and in which, logically, no one could access that did not have authorization from the Portuguese federation. But Rosell had a plan. And he applied it perfectly.
Incognito among cones, bibs and balls
It must be taken into account that Rosell had worked for Nike for many years. The Barcelona native took advantage of the close link with the American firm to camouflage himself in one of the trucks that was carrying material to the Portuguese team. Among bibs, cones and balls, there was Rosell, incognito in the back seat.
Once inside the facilities, Sandro made use of one of his strong contacts: Luiz Felipe Scolari, then Portuguese coach. ‘Felipao’ He turned a blind eye and let the Barça executive move around the facilities like Pedro for his house. Rosell’s objective was none other than to sit face to face with Deco to close his signing. And so it would be.
A contract drawn up in a few minutes
They both met and At that same summit, the manager drafted a contract to agree on the personal conditions of the midfielder, seduced by the option of playing at the Camp Nou. Later, 12 million euros and the transfer of Ricardo Quaresma would convince Porto to sign the operation.
Michael Ballack was the first option of the coaching staff
Deco’s was a signing that by no means generated consensus. Not even the then Barça coach, Frank Rijkaardnor his assistant, Have Catenor the sports director, Txiki Begiristainthey saw the arrival of the Portuguese-Brazilian completely clear. His preference was Michael Ballack, from Bayern Munich. The final decision, however, was to close Deco that summer and leave the attempt to incorporate the German until 2005. At that time, Laporta still had great confidence in Rosell, which is why he gave the green light to signing him.
Part of Rijkaard and company’s doubts regarding the figure of Deco lay in the fact that, in their opinion, The Porto midfielder lacked physical size and shooting ability. During his time at Barça, the current Barça football director proved them wrong with goals from mid-distance.