FC Barcelona Director of Football, Anderson Luis de Souza ‘Deco’, appeared before the media on Friday in Saudi Arabia as the squad gears up for Sunday's Spanish Super Cup final against Real Madrid. From the team hotel Deco cast his eye over the team's current form and a possible signing in the winter transfer market, João Cancelo. 

Deco touched on the need to bolster the squad: "Cancelo improves the quality of the squad. It's not an issue of centre-backs—we are getting Ronald back, and the coach has said that with Ronald we have one more centre-back. Cancelo also allows Eric not to have to play as a full back, which he has often done. It gives you options in certain moments and situations; even if Kounde has to play more in the middle."

 "Cancelo is a high-quality, top-level player, and it’s an operation that would normally be very difficult to complete. It happened because of circumstances: Cancelo was not registered, he had an agreement to be able to leave, and he is a player who has always been crazy about Barça. Our main objective in January was to try to improve the quality of the squad. I think Cancelo does that, and that is the most important thing."

The director of football was also happy with the team's performance in the semi-final against Athletic Club before turning his thoughts to Sunday's final. "I think it was a difficult match; even though we won by a significant margin, we knew before the game that it would be tough. But we were serious, we played a complete match at every level, and it went well for us. Now the final awaits and it is always tough against our big rivals; it will be another great match," concluded Deco. 

 

More news here