“Always to the death with you, mister,” Gavi wrote on his social networks shortly after Xavi announced that on June 30 he would stop being Barcelona’s coach. Today marks a month since that surprising and unusual decision. to find a new tenant for the Barça bench was set in motion. The Blaugrana sporting director, Deco, has the mission of collecting information on possible options. For example, one of the names that has emerged is that of his compatriot Rúben Amorim, who directs to Sporting Clube.
The agents have also begun to pull their strings. Sérgio Conceiçao, in his seventh year at Porto, is one of Jorge Mendes’ coaches, with several players from the Barcelona squad (Balde, Lamine Yamal but also Cancelo, João Félix and Ansu Fati) in his portfolio.
For his part, Hansi Flick, representative of the German school that attracted so much attention to the president in the campaign, has teamed up with Pini Zahavi. The representative has a close relationship with Laporta and was already key in Lewandowski’s arrival in the summer of 2022.
Zahavi was in the Montjuïc box on Saturday to follow Barça-Getafe, where he also met with the president. He is sure that the Israeli saw up close how the Blaugrana team had one of their best games of the season – four goals and a clean sheet – and added their sixth match without losing (4 wins and two draws) since Xavi made his announcement. With tactical tweaks, Barça is going further.
That is the paradox of Barcelona. Look for a coach when the current coach is not only the current League champion and has several heavyweights in the locker room convinced, but is also very successfully mentoring and promoting an important generation of young homegrown players who can be the future of the club.
He did not make their debut for Gavi (2004) and Balde (2003) – it was Koeman, who also gave the alternative to Ilaix, Mingueza or Nico – but with Xavi they established themselves in the first team, with a number and importance. Both have long-term injuries and have undergone surgery, but now the player from Terrassa has in his hands the fifth of the gold youth teams that are Lamine Yamal (2007), Cubarsí (2007), Héctor Fort (2006) and Marc Guiu (2006). To them we must add Fermín (2003), whom he recovered against the odds after a loan at Linares.
It would be difficult for the five promising players, very precocious talents, to have had so much participation at such a young age if Xavi, trained at La Masia, had not been the coach. We must not forget that in his debut at the Camp Nou, in November 2021, in a derby, he made a lineup with eight youth players.
Former German coach Flick, who in two years at Bayern won two Bundesliga titles, a Champions League, a Club World Cup and a European Super Cup, can also boast of having promoted Musiala, Stanisic and Zirkzee. Surely the detail will not go unnoticed by the sports management.
