Fermin Lopez Supports Deco Amid Barcelona No. 9 Debate

Fresh from a 5-0 demolition of Elche, Fermin Lopez stepped away from the noise and put his faith firmly in one man: Deco.

The young midfielder, speaking after Barcelona’s ruthless win in the second round of the 2026/27 La Liga season, was asked the inevitable question about whether the club needs a new No. 9. His answer was clear. The decision belongs upstairs.

“We finished the match feeling good,” Lopez reflected, focusing first on the performance rather than the market. Barcelona sliced through Elche with conviction, turning dominance into goals and rhythm into control. For Lopez, that was the real story of the night: a team that executed its attacks cleanly and looked comfortable doing it.

He stressed that this level cannot be a one-off. The message from inside the dressing room is simple: keep working, keep repeating this standard.

Only then did the conversation turn to the looming striker question.

When pressed on the possibility of a new centre-forward, Lopez didn’t bite. He pointed to the options already in the squad and made it clear that the players are not the ones who decide. That responsibility, he said, rests with Deco, the club’s sporting director, and the rest of the hierarchy.

The subtext was obvious: whatever happens in the market, the squad backs the structure. Lopez underlined that Barcelona already have solutions within the current group, even as speculation continues around whether a classic No. 9 is still on the shopping list.

Away from tactics and transfers, Lopez also opened up on his own condition. The 5-0 scoreline didn’t tell the whole story for him physically. He admitted he finished the game exhausted and needs to keep building his match rhythm after a punishing summer.

He described the off-season as “very tough” on him, a stretch that has clearly taken its toll, but he circled back to the same theme that ran through all his answers: the team has to keep working.

Barcelona’s attack just sent a loud message on the pitch. Deco now holds the next move off it.