Barcelona appoint Ramon Planes as Eric Abidal replacement

Barcelona has named Ramon Planes as their new sporting director following the dismissal of Eric Abidal.

Abidal was let go on Tuesday, a day after informing head coach Quique Setien that he would not keep his job following the 8-2 defeat to Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarter-finals on Friday.

Planes were appointed as Abidal’s assistant in June 2018 after a year as a technical secretary at Getafe and will now take on the senior role at Camp Nou.

The 52-year-old spent five years at Espanyol from June 2007, while he has also worked with Tottenham during the 2014-15 season.

Planes are set to have his work cut out for him with a report by Sport suggesting the majority of the Barca first-team squad were put up for sale prior to Ronald Koeman’s appointment as Setien’s successor.

Lionel Messi is not thought to be among the vast list of players to have been made available for a transfer but it has been claimed he wants to leave.

Abidal came under fire for his handling of Ernesto Valverde’s departure in January, when Barca was top of LaLiga.

The Catalan giants ended up surrendering a two-point advantage ahead of the coronavirus-enforced suspension and finished five points adrift of Real Madrid.