FC Barcelona Legend Pep Guardiola Tells Club Who To Appoint As Coach
Manchester City head coach and FC Barcelona legend Pep Guardiola has advised his boyhood club on who to appoint as Xavi Hernandez’s successor, according to the Catalunya Radio program Tot Costa.
Guardiola came through the La Masia academy as a youngster before forming part of Johan Cruyff’s ‘Dream Team’ in the 1990s.
Then from 2008 to 2012, he oversaw one of the greatest club teams of all time at Barca with Xavi one of its focal points alongside Andres Iniesta and Lionel Messi.
Similar to Guardiola more than a decade ago, Xavi has announced that he will step down from the high pressure manager’s job before the end of the ongoing season.
And while Barca was swiftly able to announce that Guardiola’s assistant Tito Vilanova would replace him after the bombshell development, it currently doesn’t have anyone lined up to man the dugout for the 2024/2025 campaign onwards.
Names from the German school of management that Laporta admires, including past Champions League winners Hansi Flick and Thomas Tuchel, have been rumored and are well-connected to the president owing to his close friendship with their agent Pini Zahavi.
But with no concrete progress made, this sequence of events has reportedly led Laporta to seek out Guardiola’s highly-respected opinion on who should take over the reins at the club of his life.
Well-acquainted with the Italian after numerous encounters in England, Guardiola reportedly recommended Brighton boss Roberto De Zerbi, who is currently in charge of commanding Barca loanee Ansu Fati.
Mundo Deportivo explains that De Zerbi is also greatly fancied by the Barca board. Yet in times of financial hardship, the near $11 million (€10 million) fee it would take to release him from his Brighton contract, which runs until June 2026, isn’t easy to come up with for the cash-strapped La Liga champions.
In a pre-match press conference ahead of his team’s Premier League meeting with Fulham this weekend, De Zerbi answered “Yes” when asked if he would still be at the Amex Stadium next term.
“Yes, I have a contract,” he answered. “I have decided nothing. My focus is on Brighton – 100%.”
Still if a club like Barca can work out a deal that appeases all parties, the chance to lead a European behemoth might be too good to turn down for the 44-year-old.
