Segura out at Barca in backroom shake-up

Published on: 29 July 2019

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Barcelona's director of football Pep Segura has had his contract with the club terminated as president Josep Maria Bartomeu continues to make changes behind the scenes at Camp Nou.

Technical director Eric Abidal is set to take on more responsibility at the club, as sources confirmed to ESPN FC last weekend, following Segura's departure.

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Abidal will continue to work with his assistant Ramon Planes, while Patrick Kluivert was appointed on Thursday as the club's new director of youth football.

Segura, 58, had previously overseen everything from top to bottom, but the changes over the last week will see responsibility split across a number of different people.

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Abidal and Planes will be in charge of the first team's transfer activity for now and they could also take on a bigger role with Barca B.

Barca have already made three signings this summer, with Frenkie de Jong and Antoine Griezmann among the arrivals, but Abidal is still working on signing a left-back to provide competition for Jordi Alba.

Neymar's possible return remains on the table too, while the club are also looking to bring in another €150 million in player sales.

Bartomeu has been working on the changes for a couple of weeks and the position of Segura, who previously worked as Liverpool's youth academy technical manager, had been called into question by a number of board members.

Segura's relationship with several directors worsened after Barca's semifinal Champions League elimination against Liverpool. His position further weakened when Jordi Mestre, the club's vice-president and one of his few supporters, resigned on July 3.

Kluivert, meanwhile, has left his role as Cameroon's assistant coach to return to Barcelona, where he spent six years as a player between 1998 and 2004.

The former Netherlands international has experience in the role after working as Paris Saint-Germain's technical director during the 2016-17 season but his job at Barca will be solely associated with academy football.

"I am very happy to be back home and looking forward to this new era, with the challenge of keeping Barca among the top teams in the world," said Kluivert, whose 11-year-old son, Shane, already plays for the Catalan club's academy.

"I grew up at the Ajax academy, which is very similar to La Masia, and I think I can do a lot for the development of young Barca players."

Source: espn.co.uk

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