Rating the chances of each Barcelona managerial candidate
FT Desk
- Updated: 27 Oct 2021 23:37 BST
- 7 min read
Ronald Koeman’s terrible start to the season at Barcelona rumbled on with a 1-0 defeat to Rayo Vallecano on Wednesday.
It was a game the Dutch head coach really needed to win, having lost the Clasico on Sunday.
Wednesday's result has seen Koeman lose his job at the Camp Nou, with Joan Laporta not happy with the on-field results.
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Names of potential successors are being thrown around freely, but who are the leading candidates for the post and who are simply filling column inches?
Xavi - LIKELY
It seems only a question of when, rather than if, Xavi finally becomes coach of Barcelona.
A club legend as a player, Xavi was part of the greatest Barcelona team in history – winning a plethora of domestic, European and international trophies.
Since 2019, he has been learning his trade as a manager in Qatar with Al Sadd.
He was in negotiations to replace Koeman in May, but in the end the Dutchman stayed on.
Xavi signed a new contract at Al Sadd but would surely jump at the chance to join Barca now, providing he can find a way out of his current deal in Qatar.
He is now the favourite with the bookmakers.
Roberto Martinez - LIKELY
Roberto Martinez is currently considered second favourite with the bookies to succeed Koeman, despite playing down reports he is set to get the job.
After making Belgium the No.1 ranked team in international football, few would doubt he knows what he is doing on the sidelines.
Having spent five years with Belgium and with the nation’s golden generation on the wane, now may be the perfect time for Martinez to return to club football.
Martinez is, of course, Spanish and plays positive football which would resonate well in Catalonia.
Erik ten Hag - LIKELY
Erik ten Hag has been constantly linked with the Barcelona job ever since leading Ajax to the semi-finals of the Champions League in 2019, defeating Real Madrid and Juventus on the way.
Barcelona is synonymous with Dutch coaches like Johan Cruyff, Rinus Michels, Louis van Gaal, Frank Rijkaard and now Ronald Koeman.
Could Ten Hag, who plays a very Barca-like style of football, be the next in line?
Andrea Pirlo - POSSIBLE
Andrea Pirlo is ranked in the top three most likely replacements for Koeman with many bookmakers, which may come as a surprise.
After all, as a rookie coach last season, Pirlo endured a miserable campaign with Juventus. The Bianconeri’s nine-year Scudetto-winning streak ended as they finished fourth and almost missed out on qualification for the Champions League.
Pirlo was relieved of his duties in May but has expressed his desire to get straight back into management. One of the all-time greats as a player, his salary will also be low as he earned just €1.5m a season at Juve.
Antonio Conte - POSSIBLE
Perhaps the most qualified manager on the market at the moment is Antonio Conte, who left Inter at the end of last season after taking the club to their first Serie A title in 11 years.
Conte has a reputation for pragmatic, successful football but he can also happily walk away from projects unless he is given the finances and autonomy to rebuild entire squads to his liking.
That may prove problematic at Barcelona, given the club is estimated to be around €1.3 billion in debt and do not have the money to improve the squad to Conte’s linking.
Barca fans also demand attractive football and so Conte’s counter-attacking approach may not prove popular.
There will be no compensation to pay, though, for Conte given he is a free agent. However, the Italian would prefer to take over at Man Utd if Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is sacked.
Francisco Javier Garcia Pimienta - POSSIBLE
Recently sacked reserve team coach Francisco Javier Garcia Pimienta is enthusiastic over the prospect of taking the role.
He may not be a big name but Barcelona have a long history of promoting from within to preserve their identity.
He has also previously worked with many of the young players around whom this Barcelona team will now have to be built, given the club’s financial problems.
Furthermore, he would represent a relatively cheap option, particularly pertinent given the estimated €12m expense Barca would incur sacking Koeman.
Luis Enrique - POSSIBLE
Luis Enrique enjoyed incredible success during his first spell at the club as manager, leading a glorious team spearheaded by the ‘MSN’ to treble glory in 2015.
He has since gone on to impress as manager of the Spain national team, taking a team without any stars to the semi-finals of Euro 2020 and final of UEFA Nations League.
A club legend as both player and coach, Luis Enrique has re-established himself this year as one of Europe’s most admired coaches. The question is whether he wants to complete the cycle he started with Spain and remain there until at least the end of the 2022 World Cup campaign.
Oscar Garcia - UNLIKELY
The Reims boss was only put in place in his current job this summer, tasked with improving the playing style of the Ligue 1 club.
In his favour, he has a long history of coaching in Barcelona's youth and reserve teams, while he even worked successfully with the first team for a period. However, he has not enjoyed much success as a head coach in his own right - he is in his ninth job in nine years - and it would be surprising if he was being seriously considered.
Thierry Henry - UNLIKELY
Thierry Henry has some history in terms of coaching, having worked with Monaco and the Montreal Impact. His time with the Ligue 1 side was meant to be a fairy tale homecoming but instead proved to be disastrous. He fared a little better in MLS before the Covid-19 pandemic forced him to return home.
Henry, of course, starred at Camp Nou as a player in the latter stages of his career after breaking all kinds of records at Arsenal.
Presently, he is working with Amazon Prime in France as a pundit on Ligue 1.
Given the chance, this is surely a job he would jump at, but his history suggests it is too big a task for him at present.
Mikel Arteta - UNLIKELY
Surprisingly, Mikel Arteta was the favourite with the bookmakers to replace Koeman as manager when he was first on the brink back in May.
Arteta is thought of very highly in the boardroom at Camp Nou and grew up in the Barcelona academy as a youngster between 1997 and 2002, playing for both the Barcelona B and Barcelona C teams.
With Arteta under pressure at Arsenal, it’s not completely impossible that both he and his current club would be open to an approach from Barcelona. It could be win-win-win for all three parties.
Jordi Cruyff - UNLIKELY
The son of Barcelona icon Johan Cruyff, the former Netherlands midfielder started his career at Barca and went on to play for Manchester United but never hit the heights of his father.
Similarly, his coaching career has been less than stellar. He has taken charge of the likes of Maccabi Tel Aviv and Shenzhen, while he also had a spell in charge of Ecuador.
Certainly has ‘Barcelona DNA’ but otherwise his CV is lacking.
Domenec Torrent - UNLIKELY
An unlikely option and the most unsexy name on this list.
However, Torrent comes with the recommendation of a certain Pep Guardiola, who still holds huge influence at Camp Nou.
Torrent was Guardiola’s assistant during the golden years of 2008 to 2012 and later worked with him at Bayern and Manchester City.
He had two unremarkable spells as manager on his own at New York City and Flamengo and so he wouldn’t be massively popular with fans.
Brendan Rodgers - UNLIKELY
Brendan Rodgers has done an excellent job at Leicester City since taking over in February 2019, twice going incredibly close to qualifying for the Champions League.
Rodgers has proved that he is ready to move to a big club once again and he has been linked to the job at Barcelona.
Barca have appointed Brits in the past, with Terry Venables and Bobby Robson coaching there in the 1980s and 1990s, respectively. But Rodgers seems an unlikely option.
Jurgen Klopp - UNLIKELY
According to some reports in Spain, Klopp is on a three-man shortlist along with Xavi and Ten Hag for the Barcelona job.
However, Klopp’s contract at Liverpool expires in 2024 and the German has stated that he will take a year out of the game when he reaches that point.
The one hope that Barcelona have is that there has been some growing unrest over the lack of investment in the squad recently from Liverpool’s owners. Could this push Klopp to look for alternative work? Even if it did, Barcelona seems an unlikely destination now.
