Xavi will leave Barceloona in the summer and the club will need a new head coach to replace him.
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Xavi’s time at Barcelona is coming to an end as he announced that he will be leaving the club at the end of 2023/24 season.
This comes after Barca suffered a 3-5 defeat to Villarreal on Saturday.
Barcelona became La Liga champions with Xavi in his first full season as head coach and also became Supercopa de Espana champions.
As the news broke, several names have emerged to replace Xavi at Barca.
Let’s take a look.
Roberto de Zerbi has emerged as one of the candidates to replace Xavi at Barcelona. De Zerbi has been doing wonders with Brighton in the Premier League. The Seagulls are currently 7th in the Premier League table with 32 points.
Mikel Arteta, former Barca player, is another name to be linked with Barcelona. However, Arteta is currently having an impressive run with Arsenal and several reports claim that he could soon sign a contract extension with the Gunners. His contract as Arsenal head coach expires in 2025.
Former Bayern Munich and Germany head coach has also emerged as a possible candidate to replace Xavi at Barca. As manager he has won Bundesliga, Champions League, DFB Pokal, DFL-Supercup, as well as UEFA Super Cup and Club World Cup with Bayern. Although he doesn’t have any experience with managing Spanish teams, he is currently available and could be a perfect candidate.
Current Real Sociedad manager is one of the names to replace Xavi. Alguacil has worked with Real Sociedad during his whole managerial career starting with the youth team in 2011. Alguacil and Sociedad have won the Copa del Rey back in 2019/20. Currently, Sociedad are 6th in the league table with 36 points.
Thomas Tuchel appeared to have revealed that he is open to managing Barcelona when he spoke during a fan event on Sunday after Xavi’s announcement.
Tuchel said: “Moving abroad would appeal to me again. Spain has an extraordinary league. From my perspective, and based on my experience working with Spaniards, they are characterised by a tremendous amount of self-confidence. When you speak with Spanish players, I quickly get the sense that you are engaging with the person.”
He is currently managing Bayern Munich as he was appointed a head coach back in March 2023.