As if time did not pass, in his second stage as president of Barcelona, Joan Laporta continues without finding his coach for the Barça bench. He was never convinced of Ronald Koeman -—the coach he inherited from Josep Maria Bartomeu—, nor of Xavi Hernández. He now returns to the starting box. With less room for patience, of course. “This situation is not pleasant for anyone, but it requires the moment of maximum unity for everyone. The club is under control in the institutional, economic and social aspects. In sports it is true that this season things are not going as planned. But we have to overcome this situation,” commented the Barça top manager.
Early in the morning, Laporta appeared at the Ciudad Deportiva with Enric Masip, a member of the football commission. There he met Rafa Yuste, sports vice president; Alejandro Echeverría, his trusted man; Deco, sports director; and two other members of the sports area such as Bojan and Joan Soler. After speaking with the staff, Laporta and his core team met in the cafeteria.
“Now we have to wait to see how the locker room reacts. Any hasty decision can affect the club,” says one of those present at the conclave. Rafa Márquez’s name appeared on the table. Deco has been insisting for some time that his friend, the Mexican, can take the reins of the first team on an interim basis. “If the opportunity comes to me, I’m not going to say no,” said the reserve team coach on Saturday night following Barça’s defeat once morest Villarreal. However, the Barça leadership prefers to be cautious. “We’ll see what happens with Xavi. It’s not the moment. Everything will be different if the team does not react,” the same sources emphasize. Changing Xavi for Márquez might harm Laporta’s image. “Márquez is not a shield for the president,” says a member of the sports management. Deco’s other name is Thiago Motta, today at Bologna (seventh in Serie A). “I feel very sorry for Xavi. He was doing a great job,” Motta said. And he avoided talking regarding his future: “I live in the present and my present is only Bologna.”
Roberto De Zerbi is another of the coaches that was mentioned. The Italian, however, has a contract until 2026 and Barcelona’s economic situation does not allow paying clauses. Jürgen Klopp’s option is impossible – he assured that he was going to take a sabbatical – while Jorge Mendes offers one of his representatives: Sérgio Conceição, Porto coach. The ball is in Deco and Laporta’s court. The problem is that the president no longer has Johan Cruyff’s advice. In his first stage as president of Barcelona, the creator of the Dream Team advised him to sign both Frank Rijkaard (five titles) and Pep Guardiola (14).
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