Barcelona remain a team and a club in transition at present.
After the tenure of Josep Maria Bartomeu left the club mired in debt, Joan Laporta has been trying to pick up the pieces during his current presidential reign.
Finally getting Camp Nou upgraded is a long overdue project, and an expensive one when run alongside the club’s attempts at trying to secure players to help bring the glory days back to the club.
Though they’re going to end 2023/24 with no silverware whatsoever, Barca have already announced that they will retain Xavi Hernandez’s services for another season.
Barcelona want Luis Enrique back
One could assume that’s because the club aren’t in a healthy enough financial position to be able to tempt anyone else to take over.
Moreover, any new man in charge would also require significant funds for transfers, and if there’s a cost saving to be made somewhere, doing so with the man on the bench makes perfect sense.
According to Sport, however, this could be a short reprieve for the current incumbent.
The outlet note that Barcelona have no intention of extending Xavi’s current contract beyond it’s end date of next summer.
Their intentions do appear clear in who they want to bring in to replace their former midfielder too.
Paris Saint-Germain’s current manager, Luis Enrique, has a contract which also ends next summer, and it would seem that the Blaugranes will target the man that brought them their second treble back in 2015.
That season saw Xavi lift the Champions League trophy in Berlin in what was his last-ever competitive game for the club against Juventus.
Whether Luis Enrique would accept the overtures of his old club is an unknown at this point, and clearly any new appointment from his point of view would be completely unlike when he was there before.
Personnel would always change of course, but Barca have no one close to the quality of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar, and a top coach wants to manager top players.
That one thing could scupper Barca’s intent before it starts.