Barcelona have approached Luis Campos to canvas the Portuguese recruitment specialist's interest in improving the Catalan club's transfer dealings.
Campos has established a reputation as one of the most accomplished transfer-market operators in world football. His eye for talent and squad building skills has furnished first AS Monaco, then Lille, with teams that have excelled in French and European football in recent seasons, while generating large profits from player sales. In recent months, Chelsea and AS Roma have held conversations with 54-year-old about taking up vacant technical director roles.
Barcelona committed more money to transfer fees than any other club in Europe in 2018 – a total of €321million, according to a study by the Swiss academic group CIES Football Observatory – yet have struggled to extract full value from high-profile purchases such as Philippe Coutinho, Ousmane Dembele and Malcom. The Catalans have also broadened their transfer strategy to include a buy, develop, market and sell policy akin to that followed by Chelsea in recent years.
Campos is seen an individual who could add significant value in both areas, while simultaneously providing a bridge between Barcelona's executive tier and the football department. According to a source familiar with their discussions, the proposal is that he would work in tandem with Barca's technical secretary Eric Abidal, who was part of Campos' 2013-14 Monaco squad.
Campos joined the principality club in 2013 from Real Madrid, where he served as Jose Mourinho's technical scout. He has been lauded for his work constructing the young Monaco squad that won the 2017-18 French title and reached a Champions League semi-final.
According to vice-president Vadim Vasilyev, Monaco grossed “€360million or thereabouts” in transfer revenue the following summer. Sales included those of Kylian Mbappe to Paris Saint-Germain, Bernardo Silva and Benjamin Mendy to Manchester City, and Tiemoue Bakayoko to Chelsea. For many observers, Mbappe and Bernardo were the players in Ligue 1 and the English Premier League this season.
Campos' second season at LOSC concluded with the club qualifying for the Champions League as runners-up to PSG, with their coach Christophe Galtier sounded out by the French Football Federation as a potential replacement should it lose Didier Deschamps to Juventus.
Two months ago, the CIES Football Observatory valued Lille's playing staff at more than three times its recruitment cost; one of just four amongst the 40 most valuable squads in Europe to achieve that increase in worth.
Mourinho recommended Campos for the director of football role at Manchester United ahead of his dismissal last December. Although Campos publicly stated his interest in the position, which remains unfilled entering this summer's transfer window, the Premier League club declined the opportunity to interview him.
*For further analysis of Barcelona's move to hire Luis Campos and the summer transfer market please listen to the latest edition of The Transfer Window podcast, which can be found in the link below...
