Barcelona are intending to extend Ernesto Valverde’s stay at the club after he won a domestic double in his first season.
The season has started well for Barcelona so far with their first piece of silverware already obtained – the Spanish Super Cup – as well as a 3-0 victory over Alaves in the first league game. Valverde seems to be continuing where he left off last season because the Catalans only lost once in the league and five times in total throughout the season under his watch.
His first season was successful because Barcelona won the domestic double as well as being one game away from going a full league season unbeaten. However, the humiliating 3-0 loss to Roma overshadowed a lot of his hard work because of how poor his in-game management was during that match.
According to Mundo Deportivo, the Barcelona board have seen enough to keep Valverde at the club after this season. He currently has one year left on his contract, but Barca want to ensure that his position is secure, so that thinking about the future doesn’t impact him or the squad. There is an option in his current contract for an additional year, but it’s unclear whether the club want to activate that or give him another contract.
Three years is a common amount of time for managers to stay at Barcelona as well as football clubs in general in the modern game. Therefore, it will probably depend on whether Valverde is content to deal with the intense pressures of managing the club past that point due to the emphasis on playing well as well as obtaining the result.
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Valverde deserves to at least have the option activated in his contract because he did remarkably well to deal with the tough circumstances at the club when he joined. Neymar’s departure had a huge impact on the squad as shown in the Spanish Super Cup against Real Madrid, but he managed to build a side that was solid and consistent, although it did come at the expense of style at times.
There was also the unofficial Catalonia independence referendum in the early stages of the season, which Barcelona were naturally involved in due to their close ties with the area. Club legends Javier Mascherano and Andres Iniesta have also left the club in 2018, but Valverde has dealt expertly with these in his calm and composed manner.
After all these difficult issues, he deserves the chance to build something great with the team. The transfer business has been effective since he has been in charge and an exciting team brimming with talent is starting to form. He has built an effective system and the team has the potential to achieve something special this season.