FC Barcelona have announced that Jordi Cruyff, son of the legendary Johan Cruyff, will leave the club this summer.
- Cruyff decides to leave Barcelona
- Club thanks Cruyff in a statement
- Cruyff follows the steps of Alemany
What is the news?
Cruyff decided to end his term at Barcelona following the decision of Mateu Alemany to leave his role as sporting director. The Dutchman worked alongside the Spaniard for the past two seasons and together they managed to revamp the Barcelona squad, bringing down the wage expenditure of the club by a large margin. It was expected that Cruyff would be a leading candidate to replace Alemany, but he decided to leave the club this summer.
Barcelona statement
In a short statement, Barcelona confirmed the departure of Cruyff: “FC Barcelona sporting director Jordi Cruyff will not be renewing his contract at the end of the current season due to his wish to embark on new professional endeavours. He announced his decision this Tuesday morning to president Joan Laporta at an emotional meeting in which he explained that after two years in his position, he is leaving to face new challenges. Cruyff has said that he is committed to assisting the club in its transition towards a new executive structure, and will be offering his full support with the closure of outstanding operations in the summer transfer market.”
The backstory
Cruyff returned to Barcelona two years ago after playing for the club in the youth academy and first team. He started as an advisor for Joan Laporta, but was quickly promoted to the role he held the past two seasons. After his football career, Cruyff worked in various different roles across the world, including spells at Maccabi Tel Aviv, Chongqing Lifan, Shenzhen FC (China) and briefly coached Ecuador. Cruijff was sporting director at AEK Larnaca (Cyprus), Maccabi and Barça.
