With the removal of Ronald Koeman, Barcelona are now currently without a coach. The latest reports confirm that the club has appointed Barcelona B coach, Sergi Barjuan, as the new interim manager or the caretaker for the main team. While there are a lot of talks going on at the moment, especially around one man, the job has not been secured by anyone as of now. To make assumptions, and to be fixated upon one manager can become dangerous and the Catalans should explore all of their options, especially since they do have a lot of alternatives at the moment. The Koeman experiment was a failure and now it is time to learn from it.
Barcelona is going through a major reform at the moment and this generational change will require someone extremely intelligent and enigmatic in the managerial role. Not only will the manager have to communicate with the numerous young talents in the club but will also have to stabilize the chemistry within the young team. Players such as Gavi, Pedri, Riqui Puig, Ansu Fati, Sergino Dest, Ilaix Moriba could very well be the next generation of superstars but at the moment, they are young and they need proper influence and training.
While we must give credit to Koeman for bringing players like Gavi, Dest, and Pedri onto the spotlight, he could not make the whole team work together. Last season, the Catalans were too dependent on Lionel Messi but this season, they do not have that crutch. They will need to find a new playing style without the Argentine legend and a completely new Barcelona needs to be created. For this reason, selecting the new coach will be a much more challenging task than one might think. However, today we will narrow down the possibilities to three options.
3. Erik ten Hag
One of the best options right now for Barcelona would be Ajax’s current manager, Erik ten Hag. We have spoken about Ten Hag before and how he could have replaced Koeman, however now it might become a reality. Although there is little chance of him actually leaving Ajax to come and coach Barca, we can always keep our fingers crossed. Ten Hag is a brilliant manager who specializes in creating a team from the ground. The team that he has created in the Eredivisie is one of the best teams we have seen in the league for a very long time.
The amount of dominance Ajax has over the league can only be explained via the recent 5-0 victory over their closest rivals in the league, PSV. However, this was not always the case and Ajax was full of youngsters who were talented but were not going in the right direction. Ten Hag managed to create a squad of amazing youngsters and a few experienced players to make Ajax the most dominant team in the league. Even after losing important players such as Frenkie de Jong, Mathis de Legit, Donny Van de Beek and Hakim Ziyech, they continue to perform miles above everyone else in the league.
Ajax’s fairytale UEFA Champions League run in 2018/19 was all thanks to Ten Hag’s brilliant managerial skills and the team has not slowed down either. Yes, Ajax were knocked out in the CL group stages last season however, this season, they have managed to remain unbeaten in the group stage so far and they have even scored five goals against a tough Borussia Dortmund side. So should the Barca board manage to tempt Ten Hag to come to Catalonia, it would be amazing for the development of the youngsters; however, it is unlikely that he will actually leave his project in the Netherlands.
2. Antonio Conte
Antonio Conte might seem like a long shot for the Catalans, given their financial situation, however, Barcelona still have elite status and any manager in the world would be honoured to work for the club. Conte is a brilliant manager and he brings success to wherever he goes. He was the one who started the Juventus dominance in Italy and nine years later, he ended the dominance with Inter Milan. He also had a good period with Chelsea in the middle where he managed to win one Premier League title and one FA Cup. He also has numerous titles in Serie A.
Conte is a very energetic and enigmatic manager who loves his work. He wholeheartedly believes that the club will perform well if everyone on the team is willing to give full effort. His playstyle, however, is a bit different from Barca’s normal playing style. Should the Italian come to the Catalan club, the team will probably have to change to a 3-5-2 formation. This could actually work out for the Spanish team since they do have two amazing wing-backs, Dest and Jordi Alba. On top of that, Ronald Araujo, Oscar Mingueza, and Gerard Pique are more than capable of manning the defense.
The main problem with the manager will be the lack of funds. Not only will Barcelona have to pay a lot to the superstar manager, but they will also have to provide him with players of his choice once he has been appointed. Conte has never shown his ability to work with youth talents but he has managed to change teams that can give him a good budget. One of the main reasons why he left Inter was due to the lack of budget being offered to him and it is highly unlikely that Barca can offer him any better. However, Conte will still have some brilliant youngsters to work with and in the world of football you can never rule out anything before it has been finalized.
1. Xavi Hernandez
Finally, the name in everyone’s mouth currently is Xavi Hernandez. The Spanish legend was tipped to take over the Barcelona job back when Quique Setien was sacked however, the Barca board did not back Xavi and chose to go with another Blaugrana legend instead. Koeman was a wise choice at that time since Hernandez is still unproven in the European scene while Koeman had a lot of experience with Southampton, Everton, and the Dutch National Team. Xavi on the other hand had a good managerial record but only in Middle Eastern Asia.
However, now it seems as if the Koeman decision was quite rushed and they should have at least contacted Xavi and talked to him. As soon as Koeman was sacked, fans everywhere started to root for Xavi and now it seems like he is the man most likely for the Job. Trusted journalist, Fabrizio Romano, has stated that the Barca board has already decided on the next manager and according to him it is Xavi. For now, the first team will be managed by the former B team manager and Xavi will be announced later. In a Twitter post, Fabrizio has stated that the club is already in talks with Xavi and the president will announce the manager to the team today.
Thus, while the other options in the list are also viable, it seems like Barcelona has already made up their minds and they will be finally bringing Xavi home. It will be a shame that Messi won’t live to see the day where Xavi is his manager since Messi had always rallied for his former teammate to become the manager of Barcelona. However, the youngsters will thrive a lot from the legendary midfielder. His coaching style is very similar to Pep Guardiola and he could lead this group of youngsters into a golden generation for the club.
Who do you want to see as Barca’s next manager?