Lionel Messi tipped to replace Xavi as Barcelona MANAGER

Tom Weber

• Updated: 31 Jan 2024 17:58 GMT
• 3 min read

Danny Murphy bizarrely believes that Barcelona should hire Lionel Messi to be Xavi's successor.

The Barcelona coach shocked the world last weekend by announcing that he will leave his post at the end of the campaign. His surprising statement came after his side were beaten 5-3 on home soil by a Villarreal side that had been winless in four games.

"It is a cruel and unpleasant job," Xavi reiterated in a later press conference. "It makes you feel worthless on a daily basis. Pep [Guardiola] had already told me; I saw Luis Enrique suffer. We have a problem in terms of the level of demand. You don't enjoy it. You're playing for your life all the time. It's cruel."

Naturally, speculation about who could succeed the 44-year-old in the summer has abounded. The likes of Mikel Arteta and Jurgen Klopp have been linked, but these rumours have already been dismissed as being wide off the mark.

'Barca should hire Messi'

The cash-strapped Catalans will likely have to settle for a less illustrious name, but former Liverpool player Danny Murphy believes that the Blaugrana should attempt to do something quite incredible: hire Lionel Messi.

Yes, Murphy asserted on talkSPORT that "he would give it to Messi" in a bizarre suggestion. "I'd give it to Messi, the fans are on board straight away. Everything he touches turns to gold. He was put on this earth to do amazing things. It's not going to stop in management."

The problem with this - besides the fact that the Argentine has no managerial experience whatsoever - is that the World Cup winner is still playing. Messi is under contract at Inter Miami until the end of 2025 and there is absolutely nothing to suggest that he would be willing to give up the good life in Florida to take on a "cruel and unpleasant job."

Indeed, Messi previously admitted that he has no intention of becoming a coach as things stand. "I don't really intend to be a coach, but [Zinedine] Zidane said exactly that and after that, he became a coach and won the Champions League 3 times," he told Star+.