As Barcelona sputter and scuffle their way through the end of a largely disappointing 2016-17 campaign, the seemingly inevitable has happened – Luis Enrique will not return as manager next season.
BREAKING NEWS: @LUISENRIQUE21 announces he will not continue as Barça manager next season. #FCBlive pic.twitter.com/pqYOnWxUy9
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) March 1, 2017
Barca are about to exit the Champions League at the Round of 16 stage for the first time in 10 years and have been struggling to gain a foothold in the La Liga title race against Real Madrid and Sevilla (though they did take over the lead after Real Madrid’s shock draw to Las Palmas on Wednesday), which didn’t bode well for Enrique’s future at the Camp Nou.
Now the question is this: who replaces Enrique in the Barca hot seat? There isn’t a great selection of names available right now, but Barca is still Barca, and they’ll have their pick of who they might want. Here are some names to look out for:
Jorge Sampaoli, Sevilla: Sampaoli has transformed Sevilla into a Spanish title contender, and won major plaudits along the way. Rumor had it that Neymar wanted Sampaoli to be the next manager of Brazil after the disastrous Dunga tenure, and his assistant Juanma Lillo was Pep Guardiola’s mentor. If Barca is looking for a manager to restore the “Barcelona Way”, Sampaoli’s pressing and possession style complete with fluid interplay seems to be a wise choice. He’d no doubt be interested if the phone call came.
Ernesto Valverde, Athletic Bilbao: Valverde has been the manager at San Mames since 2013, and lead them to their first trophy in 31 years back in 2015 when they won the Spanish Super Cup against Barca by a 5-1 aggregate score. Managing Athletic Bilbao is sometimes difficult based on their policy to only use Basque players, but his success is unquestioned despite that.
He took them to 5th in La Liga last season and the quarterfinals of the Europa League, though that runaway success hasn’t quite replicated itself this year. He’s understated, though his teams play some good football themselves. It would be quite a challenge for Valverde, and a bit riskier for Barca, however they’d be getting a quality manager if they went in his direction.
Ronald Koeman, Everton: Koeman was a legendary player for Barcelona in their dominant days of the early 90s, which is certainly a plus for the Catalans as they always love to hire one of their own. Koeman was an assistant coach for Louis Van Gaal back in the late 90s as he was earning his coaching stripes, and has been a successful boss in his own right ever since. His teams at Southampton and Everton have won major plaudits, and though Barca would certainly be a step up in challenge, he’d no doubt be willing to take it knowing the Camp Nou like he does.
Eusebio Sacristán, Real Sociedad: Sacristán, or Eusebio as he was known when he played, managed Barca’s B team from 2011-2015, and developed many good players in those years that have gone on to the first team as well as good careers elsewhere. He’s someone else who knows the Camp Nou very well, and would jump at a chance to be the big boss at Barca. Currently, his Real Sociedad side are 5th in La Liga, which is no small feat for a club their size. He might be more of a dark horse in this race, but I wouldn’t count him out, and he’ll certainly be considered.
Mauricio Pochettino, Spurs: As a Tottenham supporter myself, I absolute hate writing this out but I know the links are inevitable. In terms of fitting the Barca way, he’ll absolutely bring young players up through the academy system, he’ll play attractive and beautiful football that the fans and board will no doubt love and now has quite an impressive track record.
There are two issues though that will likely prevent him from getting this job: his days managing at Espanyol, Barca’s great city rivals, will probably be a mark against him, and Spurs are going to put up a fight like no other club on this list to keep their manager as they potentially play in the Champions League again and head to a new stadium. Poche has also shown no interest in leaving Spurs anytime soon, but that probably won’t dissuade the links from appearing.
Diego Simeone, Atlético Madrid: Here is a real dark horse candidate, especially considering his recent history with Barca as well as his own status at Atleti still in question. If he did leave, would he take this job? My guess is he would but his gruff personality might not fit in with what Barca want to do, and his notoriously defensive style might also not fit. But no one can doubt his success, and with Barca not achieving the levels they need to in the last couple of seasons, sometimes surprising decisions can and will be made.
Enrique will step down at the end of the season, giving the Barca decision-makers plenty of time to make their decision, and they will have their pick of managers available, though the names might not necessarily jump out at you.
