Who is Aston Villa target Mateu Alemany - career path, big-money signings, and updates on deal

Aston Villa are in advanced talks to attain Barcelona director of football Mateu Alemany according to reputable reports across Europe.

But who is the Spaniard, what does his career path look like and what players has he signed over the years?

Now 60 years of age, Alemany, who has a degree in law, began his journey in football with a continuous 15-year stay at RCD Mallorca between 1990 and 2005.

He started as a deputy managing director at Mallorca before going on to fill the roles of chief executive officer and club president.

Alemany was actually offered the role of general director at Real Madrid when Florentino Perez became president in 2000, but he turned it down.

He did eventually move on from Mallorca, as he left his role in June 2010. In between, in 2007, Alemany had an unsuccessful run for president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation.

The football chief took a seven-year break from football but returned to the game to join Valencia CF in 2017 as general director.

While at Valencia, Alemany guided the signings of Geoffrey Kondogbia (€25 million), Jasper Cileseen (€35 million) and Gonçalo Guedes (€40 million).

It was a big step up in 2021 when Barcelona came calling, and he has been with the Catalan giants ever since.

Robert Lewandowski (€45 million), Jules Kounde (€50 million) and Ferran Torres (€55 million) have all been signed throughout Alemany’s tenure.

On May 2, 2023, Barcelona announced Alemany would be leaving his post at the end of the season to “begin a new professional project”.

It has since emerged in worldwide media that the said new project is likely to be at Villa, as Unai Emery’s side are in advanced talks to acquire Alemany’s services.