The German route is an alternative that has seduced Joan Laporta since he became president of Barça in his second stage and was not convinced of Ronald Koeman’s performance. The Barcelona president understands that the Germanic school is linked to today’s football, where technical qualities must be added to excellent physical skills and a high competitive pace. From this pattern and taking into account that he represents an intermediary well connected with Laporta, the offensive of the Blaugrana club is understood to hire Hansi Flick (59 years old) as a replacement for Xavi Hernández on the Barcelona bench, pending the meeting on Monday with the Terrasa technician.
The truth is that negotiations with Flick and his representative have already begun and the German is now the strongest candidate for the position.
Flick’s experience in a big club like Bayern and his knowledge of some of the heavyweights in the Barcelona squad are valued. Flick worked at Bayern with Robert Lewandowski and in the German team he had Gündogan and Ter Stegen under his command. These footballers would not view with displeasure the arrival of the German, who has been without a team since he was dismissed by his country’s federation after losing a friendly with Japan 1-4. That was last September.
Since then, Flick has been waiting for another opportunity. In fact, before the sushi summit in which Laporta decided to bet on Xavi’s continuity, the former Bayern player was convinced of his chances of joining Barcelona. That twist in the script at the Blaugrana club left him surprised and somewhat disappointed. Now his chances are back on the table and very strong.
Flick entered the front line of continental football when he replaced Niko Kovac as interim coach of Bayern in November 2019.
It seemed like he would only be there for a few weeks but the good results accompanied him from the beginning and with him in charge the Bavarian team was a steamroller. He raised the sextet, destroyed Barça in Lisbon in the quarter-finals of the Champions League with a humiliating 2-8, gave youngsters like Musiala their debut and handled veterans like Müller or Lewandowski without substance problems. He was not scared by his stripes and knew how to carry them with a mixture of left hand (presence of families at Bayern’s concentration during the pandemic) and righteousness. The following season he would repeat his success in the Bundesliga but left Bayern to return to the German federation, now to be a coach.
The fact that he worked with young people in the lower categories of the German national team before taking the Bayern bench is another aspect that can be highlighted in his career, taking into account that if there is something in abundance at Barça now, it is the boys who have emerged from the hand of Xavi, such as Lamine Yamal, Cubarsí, Fermín or Héctor Fort. With the Mannschaft Flick can also boast of having been on Joachim Löw’s coaching staff in the world title won in Brazil 2014.
Flick is considered one of the pupils of Ralf Rangnick, current Austrian coach and former Manchester United coach, and one of the names that some time ago was on Laporta’s nightstand as a future candidate for the Blaugrana bench.
In Flick’s debt, his fiasco at the head of the German team, which was left out of the World Cup in Qatar in the group stage. Since then the coach’s star has shone less. If Barcelona finally hires him, it would be a good opportunity to resume a career that seemed launched and was suddenly short-circuited. Another thing is that in the current convoluted Barça he knew how to find the key.