Barcelona boss Luis Enrique announced that he will be leaving the Spanish giants in the summer
On Wednesday night boss of Spanish giants Luis Enrique announced that he would leave the club at the end of the campaign.
The announcement was not a shock, but the timing maybe was slightly surprising.
Spanish champions Barcelona are lauded for being a unique club. The club supports the Catalan aims of becoming a state in its own right.
They also decided to snub big money sponsorship deals to promote the cause of charity Unicef a few years back.
The Spanish giants have a tendency to do things their own way. One of those ways is not necessary picking their head coaches on profile. Barcelona tend to pick bosses they believe will continue the clubs style and traditions.
Not into high-profile
When you think about the bosses who have managed the Catalan giants in recent years, not many had a major managerial profile. The likes of Pep Guardiola and Tito Villanova were already coaches within the Barcelona ranks.
Tata Martino was a man that did not have a major managerial profile, not in European football anyway. Luis Enrique had enjoyed mixed results at Roma and Celta Vigo before his return to Catalonia, where he had played for eight years.
Enrique’s appointment may have had something to do with the fact that he had also managed the Barcelona B team at the start of his coaching career.
Barcelona have very rarely picked a boss with a big-profile in recent years. They have all been bosses, who either came from within the ranks or that the club felt understood the philosophy of the club. The clubs hierarchy are certainly not scared to make a left-field appointment that is for sure.
Enrique’s style of play questioned
Enrique was appointed as boss, as the Barcelona hierarchy believed he understood how the team needed to play. He knew that the team had to play the style of football that has been instilled into the team since the managerial reign of the great Johan Cruyff.
However, under Enrique the team played a slightly more direct style of play. The style yielded success with two La Liga titles and one Champions League triumph amongst other trophies.
Despite winning trophies there always seemed to be this nagging feeling that Enrique’s style did not sit well with some at the club.
That the team and in a way the club had lost its identity. Enrique was a former Barcelona player and even B team coach. However, he does not seem to quite buy into the clubs overall football philosophy, which has at times been lauded by fans and experts alike.
In truth, Enrique was safe when the team was winning trophies, but there was always going to come a time when results went wrong and he would come in for heavy criticism. In the end the criticism and some of the teams unconvincing performances of late has become too much for their boss.
Who will replace Enrique this summer?
Long before Enrique announced his decision there was speculation over who will be his replacement. At the moment the joint favourites to take the job are Sevilla’s Jorge Sampaoli and Athletic Bilbao’s Ernesto Valverde, who are both odds of 5/2 to be the Barcelona boss next season.
However, Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino is also reportedly highly regarded by the Barcelona hierarchy. According to Spanish football insider and Sky Sports expert Guillem Balague there are doubts about Sampaoli’s personality and the Catalan club may opt for Valverde, whose style of play as a head coach is considered similar to that of Barcelona’s preferred style.
The likes of Everton’s Ronald Koeman, Arsenal’s Arsene Wenger and former France boss Laurent Blanc have also been talked about as possible candidates.
However, the past tells us that Barcelona like to appoint bosses who are not high-profile, so arguably Valverde fits the bill. The 53-year-old is a former Barcelona player, even if he did only spend two years at the club.
He also spent two years managing rivals Espanyol. On the whole he has done a decent job at every club he has been at, with the highlight coming at Olympiakos in Greece where he won three league titles.
Whether Valverde will be the Catalan giant’s next boss remains to be seen. However, what seems to be clear is that whoever the next Barca boss is they will not be majorly high-profile.
Who will be the next Barcelona boss?
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