Key members of the FC Barcelona board want Liverpool’s Jurgen Klopp to replace outgoing head coach Xavi Hernandez according to RAC1.
After nine years at the helm, Klopp announced that he will leave his post at Anfield through an emotional interview released on Friday.
His Barca opposite number Xavi had been under pressure as of late amid a downturn in form that included a Spanish Super Cup final loss to Real Madrid and a Copa del Rey quarterfinal KO against Athletic Club midweek.
But the public message from president Joan Laporta and Sporting Director Deco was that they had full confidence in their manager, who raised this whenever made to face them in his press conferences.
In one that came around an hour and a half after Barca’s crippling 5-3 defeat to Villarreal on Saturday, however, Xavi, similar to Klopp, revealed that he will not lead the Blaugrana next term.
“Before you ask me the pertinent questions, I want to announce that from June 30 I will not continue as Barca coach,” Xavi began.
“We’ve been talking about it with Laporta and with the sporting area, and as a Culer I think the club needs a change of dynamic,” the legendary midfielder explained.
Before this bombshell development, Cadena SER had already reported that Bologna’s Thiago Motta was being lined up as a replacement for Xavi.
Their former teammate Rafa Marquez, who manages the reserve outfit known as Barca Atletic, has also had his name floated around.
Yet according to RAC1, the Mexican is not the board’s first choice and neither is any “new coach” without elite experience.
“There is no name on the table, but Jurgen Klopp’s is the one that is most in the minds of the people who have to make the decision,” the radio station added, amid SPORT also reminding us how the German had once been Laporta’s dream appointment for the hotseat.
Though Klopp appears set for a sabbatical after almost a decade on Merseyside, it now remains to be seen if Laporta and Co. can persuade him to take over the reins in Catalonia and walk straight into one of football’s most demanding and emotionally taxing management jobs.
