This will come as a surprise to absolutely nobody, but it looks like Barcelona are finally prepared to put Ernesto Valverde out of his misery.
It’s hard to believe that losing to Atletico Madrid in the Super Cup is a sackable offence on it’s own, so this does look like those in charge have wanted to get rid of him for a while and they’ve finally had the excuse.
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There’s been a lot of speculation in the last few days about Barca offering the job to various candidates and even meeting with potential coaches, so it doesn’t look good for them. The “mes que un club” motto suggests they might treat their employees better than this.
It looks like the news has finally been confirmed as journalists on Twitter confirmed that Valverde will not continue as the coach of the club:
????? ?????? ??????????? ?? ?? ????: ???????? ???????? ?? ????? ????? ????????
— Achraf Ben Ayad (@Benayadachraf) January 13, 2020
Ernesto Valverde and Barça, game over. He’s going to be sacked. ?? #FCB #Barcelona
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) January 13, 2020
That’s the easy part from the club’s point of view, they now need to find a successor. Xavi and Ronald Koeman have been touted but they don’t seem to want the job until the Summer so it’s possible they might have to settle for an interim coach.
There’s a history of B team coaches being promoted, but it will be interesting to see what happens to performances after this. Barca actually sit top of La Liga and are still in the Champions League, so this is a huge gamble.
Hopefully an announcement of who will take over should come soon.