There are five possible names to assume the technical direction.
The president of Barcelona, Joan Laporta, assured that he accepts “the formula” of Xavi Hernández, that of leaving the position of the first team at the end of the season, because he is “a legend of Barcelona fans”, and stressed that he is “an honest person” and that he “loves” the club and that is why he trusts in his “commitment” until the end.
”Xavi told me that at the end of the season he would leave. He wanted to finish the season, and it is a formula that I accept because it is Xavi who proposed it to me, because he is a legend of Barcelona fans. He is an honest person who acts with all dignity and who loves Barça. The commitment of him and his staff is maximum until the end of the season,” he said in statements provided by the club.
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Xavi’s announcement to leave at the end of the season left a hole that was impossible to hide. As the Barça coach himself confirmed in the same press conference where he made public his decision to leave the club at the end of the season, the players knew nothing when he dropped the bomb in front of the media. Everything was precipitated after Saturday’s 5-3 away defeat against Villarreal. With the defeat, Barcelona is in third place with 44 points, eleven points less than the surprising Girona, with 55 and one more game played.
Laporta visited the team this Sunday at the Joan Gamper Sports City and spoke a few words to the players in the locker room, just the day after they lost at home against the Yellow Submarine and Xavi announced that he would leave when the season ended. Furthermore, the top culé leader acknowledged that they did not expect to find themselves in this situation at this point.
“We want to overcome this situation, which is not pleasant for anyone. What the moment requires is maximum unity. The club, at this time, is under control institutionally, economically and socially; In the sporting aspect things are not going as we had planned. We come from a season in which we won LaLiga and the Spanish Super Cup and we thought that with an improved squad we would have better expectations, but it is not being met,” he stressed.
Despite everything, he trusts in the Barça team’s chances for the remainder of the campaign. “LaLiga is difficult, but it is not lost yet; You have to fight to be the best possible, without ruling out winning. We have to do everything we have to try to win the ‘Champions’. We are in the tie against Naples, we are going step by step and I think that with commitment, with more character, without losing concentration and with the coach giving everything, which I know he will, and with the players with full commitment we will be able to reach the final of the season some of the objectives that we have set for ourselves,” he indicated.
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Finally, Laporta sent a message to the Barcelona fans. “You have to think that this is a complicated season, we have had to go to Montjuïc. At the end of this year we will return to the Spotify Camp Nou if there are no unforeseen events and everything goes as planned. First of all, I want to thank you for your commitment to the team and the club, because the fans are responding,” he explained. ”Yesterday we had the second best entrance in Montjuïc, but it is no longer just the entrance, but the fans cheering at all times, in moments of maximum difficulty for the team, and I want to thank them for that. I ask you to continue like this, to make the effort to go to Montjuïc again and to cheer for Barça again on Osasuna day,” he concluded.
The candidates to succeed Xavi
According to the Catalan media Mundo Deportivo, there are five candidates to succeed Xavi on the Barcelona bench for next season. These are Hansi Flick, Thiago Motta, Mikel Arteta, Imanol Alguacil and Jürgen Klopp.
The German Flick, who is without a team, is one of the president’s favorites. In fact, a call from Laporta to Flick (58 years old) was revealed, with Koeman being the culé coach as a possible successor, just before he committed in May 2021 as coach of Germany, where he was dismissed last September. Then Thiago Motta emerges, who played in Barcelona between 2004 and 2007, took over in the lower divisions of PSG in 2018, before beginning his journey as first coach in Serie A in Genoa, Spezia and Bologna, his current club. Mikel Arteta is another former La Masia player who would fit perfectly with an idea of offensive and modern football. But he has a contract with Arsenal until 2025, precisely when Guardiola’s contract at Manchester City expires.
Jurgen Klopp also appears, who will fulfill his contract in the middle of the year with Liverpool and will not renew to continue in 2025, after declaring that “He is running out of energy”, while the other alternative is Imanol Alguacil, with a contract with Real Sociedad until 2025.