Barcelona have become a point of fun in the media in Spain over recent seasons due to some less than transparent practice in the offices next to Camp Nou. Even within the Barcelona dressing room, it’s become a humorous topic.
Much has been made of the influence of agent Jorge Mendes at Barcelona, and Sporting Director Deco is another who is strongly linked to Mendes, as a former part of his agency. Many of the moves Deco has made have tallied with those links to Mendes, and it’s reached the point where Sport say that the Barcelona dressing room refer to Deco as ‘Mendes‘.
Meanwhile the role of Alejandro Echevarria, President Joan Laporta’s ex-brother in law who is without a position, but is constantly involved has come under plenty of suspicion too. He allegedly leaked a ‘sale list’ to the squad, sewing discontent amongst the players with Xavi Hernandez, as Barcelona moved towards sacking him.
The Catalan daily say that the ‘one who threads the needle’ and ‘manoeuvres in the shadow’ is referred to as ‘Villarejo’, a nod to former Spanish spy and whistleblower Jose Manuel Villarejo. Another member of the hierarchy is referred to as ‘Piulin’ or chirper for his strong relationship with certain journalists, and his tendency to speak with the media.
Another ‘unnamed’ character is ‘fishmonger’. Head of Youth Football Joan Soler has business in the fishing industry. Finally, there is the more well-known nickname is for former assistant manager Oscar Hernandez, who was referred to as ‘Klopp’ for his vague likeness with the German manager.
It is tricky to speculate on who some of the nicknames belong to, beyond Deco and Hernandez, and no doubt these nicknames come from a section of the Barcelona dressing room – not least because it would be somewhat surprising if those who had Mendes as their agent were referring to Deco by the same name.