BarcelonaMay 25, 2019. Barça fall in the final of the Copa del Rey to a surprising Valencia who touch the sky again by crowning themselves with a title in a season in which, in addition, they manage to qualify for the Champions Three and a half years later, many of the artists of that team will see each other again at the Camp Nou, although with very different roles and interests. And it is that, not too long ago, the current architects of the first teams and youth teams of Barça and Espanyol were part of a work team that managed to rescue Valencia from the sporting mediocrity it was living in.
The main figure in that process was the one who now holds the position of director of football at Barça, Mateu Alemany. The Majorcan lawyer landed at Mestalla in March 2017 to take up the role of general manager. He was in charge of strengthening the technical secretariat of Valencia. One of the first moves he approved, days before even his official appointment, was the return of a talent scout named Domingo Catoira, who had already been at the club between 2010 and 2014. He was endorsed by José Ramón Alexanco, who had arrived at Mestalla in 2015 to fill the void left by Rufete at the head of the Academy, and who a few months later had been promoted as top sporting official.
Alexanco, of course, lasted just over two years at Valencia. The loss of prominence in the decision-making of the new Valencian sports structure led to his departure, in September 2017. He had personally negotiated with Quique Setién for his incorporation as coach, but it was Mateu Alemany who convinced Peter Lim to choose his candidate, Marcelino García. Four years later, Laporta reunited and reconciled Alemany and Alexanco, now the mainstays of the first team and La Masia, respectively. The former Basque player, in fact, had already held this position between 2005 and 2010, during Laporta’s first presidency at Barça.
Great connoisseur of international markets
“Catoira was the right hand of Alemany and Longoria. They held him in high regard. He is a person very well valued by the world of football and they put all their trust in him. Alemany, in fact, shielded him with a very powerful contract for three years”, Osasuna’s current sporting director Braulio Vázquez explains to ARA. He turned Catoira into his right-hand man at Valencia, first, and then at Valladolid. Espanyol’s current sporting director made a name for himself in Spanish football by reporting on and recommending young, semi-unknown talents that they could sign for cheap prices.
“At Valencia he controlled the South American area and traveled a lot through Brazil, Argentina or Chile”, recalls Vázquez, who credits Catoira with following Jonas Gonçalves: “I knew everything about him, from the humble car that he used until the profession of his parents, passing through his clause. The day after I met him we signed it.” Osasuna’s sporting director highlights Catoira’s great ability to interpret the market: “He has a great memory, remembers all kinds of data and knows how to extract a lot of information. He does great market studies that help him anticipate other clubs. He advised signing Adil Rami before an England-France. After making his debut with the national team, he received an offer from Arsenal, but we already had him tied up,” he says. Catoira also recommended the additions of Alexis Sánchez and Paulinho, who did not end up at Mestalla due to lack of budget.
Now Catoira is in charge of rebuilding an Espanyol that needs to get it right with the winter signings in order not to relive a traumatic relegation. If in the summer he opted for Vinicius Souza, whom he had seen in person in Belgium on several occasions, he has now done so with the Mexican César Montes, who will be presented this Thursday as the new white-and-blue reinforcement. If the Brazilian is being one of the revelations of the course, the second is expected to be a leader in defense. “The hand of Catoira will start to be felt especially from 2023”, says Vázquez. De Catoira also praises his great knowledge of the young players: “At Valencia, despite not being his responsibility, he was the one who controlled the Academy players best. He was reporting on it because he liked it. Now he knows Espanyol’s squad perfectly and will make sure that the new signings do not overshadow the projection of Simo or Rubén Sánchez”, points out Osasuna’s sporting director.
Catoira landed at Espanyol as technical secretary in 2020 due to the trust placed in him by Rufete, with whom he had spent a few months in his first spell at Valencia. Another Rufete bet with a Valencian past is Luis Vicente Mateo, who has been in charge of the Spanish squad for two years. Alexanco, in 2017, had given him the same responsibility at Valencia. Five years later, one coordinates the Blaugrana base football and the other, the white-and-blue. “We maintain the personal relationship with him and Toni Hernández, but separate the professional relationship. There is no non-aggression pact, but they know that if they want one of our best players they will have to call us”, admits Mateo. The work of all of them will intensify the day after the derby, when the winter market will officially start. Espanyol will have more work to do there than Barça.
