Shocking swerve: Mateu Alemany set to stay at Barcelona - report

FC Barcelona and Mateu Alemany had parted ways. The club had officially said so. It was practically guaranteed that he would join Aston Villa instead, and Barcelona were already working on who to hire as his replacement.

But something changed after Alemany landed in Birmingham. He made a big U-turn and told Barcelona he wanted to stay after all.

The club’s president, Joan Laporta, accepted his proposal, per multiple outlets.

This comes a day after Jordi Cruyff announced he would end his time as a Barcelona executive and after multiple reports that Deco was leading the race to be Alemany’s successor.

It is said Alemany wants to continue the project he started when he joined Barça, but exactly why he decided to not join Villa has not been revealed.

It’s also not known what role, if any, Deco will have going forward. However, it’s been suggested he could be Alemany’s right-hand man.