Francesc Arnau passes away. Sadly the sporting director of Real Oviedo Francesc Arnau has passed away at a young age of 46. He was the former Barcelona and Malaga goalkeeper.
The Asturian team announced his death this morning.
The dicision of suspending all their teams games this weekend was made by Real Oviedo themselves.
“Our sporting director, Francesc Arnau Grabalosa, has passed away,” read a Real Oviedo club statement on Twitter.
“We mourn his death deeply and our thoughts are with his family at this difficult time.
“Rest in peace.”
Catalan’s was sadden says a report by ‘La Voz de Asturias, while his former clubs Malaga and Barcelona had added their condolonces and tributes to Arnau.
La Masia graduate and Spain U21 star
Arnau spent over a decade at Barcelona, coming through the ranks of the youth academy and playing for the B team before going on to make 32 first team appearances.
He also represented Spain at various youth levels and was awarded Player of the Tournament at the 1998 UEFA European Under-21 Championship, which Spain won.
With first-team football hard to come by at the Camp Nou, Arnau eventually moved on to Malaga, where he spent his best years as a professional player, becoming a fans’ favourite over almost 10 seasons.
At the time when he hanged up his gloves in 2011, Arnau became first a youth coach and later director of football at Malaga.
In December 2019 he joined Real Oviedo as sporting director and he helped the club remain in LaLiga SmartBank due to his signings in the winter transfer window.
This season, with two games to play, a top 10 finish is still possible for Oviedo, while Arnau had already begun preparations for next season.