Deco on Barca's future, challenging Real and Yamal

Barcelona sporting director Deco denies the club have financial problems and says they do not need to sell players - despite La Liga's restrictive financial controls.

Deco, 47, has overseen a revival of Barcelona since his appointment in 2023, culminating in a domestic treble while also reaching the semi-finals of the Champions League.

The Catalans have renewed the contracts of superstar teenager Lamine Yamal, Raphinha and manager Hansi Flick, while they were cleared by Spain's National Sports Council (CSD) to register midfielder Dani Olmo amid a dispute with La Liga.

When asked whether the world should see Barcelona as a well-run club in 2025, Deco told BBC Sport: "Barcelona is my club, I love Barcelona. I saw what happened from the outside and always thought I could help put Barca at the same high level.

"I knew it would be difficult when I joined with the financial rules - it is not a financial problem, but the financial fair play rules in Spain are more difficult than the Premier League and in other countries.

"It is a problem for a lot of clubs, you just hear about Barca because we are a big club. You need to work with it, see how you can improve the team and the combination of La Masia [academy] players and experienced players has been important."

The former Portugal midfielder, who played for the Catalans - as well as Chelsea and Porto - stresses Barcelona are happy working with La Liga but have faith the rules will continue to improve.

Even if they do not, Barcelona are excited to have "one of the biggest contracts in history" with Nike, and the newly renovated 100,000-seater Nou Camp will be the biggest stadium in Europe and improve revenues.

He insists Barcelona will "not sell our best players", adding the team's recent success means they can "grow with many of the same players". But he says they are in looking for "two, three or four signings", without needing to enter the market "like crazy" thanks to the stability at the core of the team.

When asked if it includes the option of signing Manchester United's Marcus Rashford, thought to be available for £40m, or Liverpool's Luis Diaz, he added: "We have been focusing on renewing contracts, after that, we'll discuss players to come.

"Of course, these two players, like you mentioned, they are good but have contracts in their clubs, so we won't speak because it's not fair. But when you decide to go to the market, for sure, we find some names. In my opinion, we don't need to bring many players."

He added: "When I speak with the agents of the players, everyone wants to come or stay. So this is important. The image of the club is still good. We are proud because Barcelona is still such a big club, and the way we are playing football makes players want to come."

Deco is aware of the constant threat of Real Madrid, who will look to improve under new head coach Xabi Alonso.

They have also agreed deals for right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold, who will leave Liverpool, and Bournemouth centre-back Dean Huijsen. Benfica left-back Alvaro Carreras is understood to be next on the club's shortlist.

"Next season is not going to be easy, because I know that first Real Madrid has a lot of top players," he said. "In my opinion they have a big team. They have a lot of fantastic players. Of course they want to improve.

"It's very important to have a strong Madrid. It's very important to have strong players, top players, players that the people want to see. I think Madrid has these kinds of players, like us.

"Now it's important to keep the top players in La Liga. So for us it's important that Madrid are strong, that Atletico is strong, and we need to be there."

Barcelona have already signed perhaps their most important deal of the summer, keeping 17-year-old Spanish sensation Yamal at the club on a new six-year deal until 2031.

Yamal made his debut at 15 and has already made 106 appearances for the club. He was part of Spain's European Championship-winning team, is the reigning Golden Boy and Kopa winner - awards given to the best young player in the world - and was heavily involved in Barcelona's four El Clasico wins against Madrid this season.

All this success has led him to be compared to Barcelona legend Lionel Messi, widely regarded as among the world's greatest ever players.

Deco continued: "Lamine is Lamine. Leo is Leo. Leo was the best player in the history of this club, for me, the best player in history.

"Everyone becomes crazy when they see Lamine playing football, you would pay to go watch him in the stadium, he's special and he wanted to stay because he believes in the project. He deserves an improved salary.

"He's going to be one of the best players in the world. We need to respect him as a player, but not forget he is 17 years old."

Deco added: "It's not easy to compare, but Lamine, in terms of quality, can make history like Leo. But of course, to make history, he needs to have a good team behind him."

Barcelona managed Messi mania and would know how to give Yamal the degree of protection he needs to shine.

"We try to not let him do everything, because, you know, sometimes the sponsors, and everyone wants his shirt or time," Deco continued. "Sometimes we can't control everything, but people see his magic, on and off the pitch.

"They want to have a piece of him and we need to help him manage that."