Barcelona have reached an agreement for Argentinian Gerardo Martino to become their new coach.
The 50-year-old, who led Newell's Old Boys to the Argentinian Clausura title last season but recently severed ties with the club, has agreed a two-year contract at Barca where he will replace Tito Vilanova.
Barca announced on Friday night that the 44-year-old Vilanova was stepping down as he continues his battle with cancer.
The first problem area for Barcelona is in the centre of defence. While their rivals Real Madrid have set themselves up well with the combination of Sergio Ramos and Rafael Varane, Barcelona have an aged Carles Puyol and an ineffective Gerard Pique. Call it controversial if you will, but Pique has been Barcelona’s least Barcelona-like player, and the big Spanish defender has made one unforgivable error too many for both his club and his national team. Pique signed with Barcelona in 2008 and quickly made his way into the starting line up, but in the last two seasons, he has failed to perform at the same level that made him so valuable during the start of the Tiki-Taka revolution.
His consistency has suffered and his ability to defend one-on-one and on set pieces has been poor. Pique’s time at Barcelona may not be up just yet, but the club needs to find a central defender to at least compete with him for a spot in the starting line up. Meanwhile, both Puyol and Javier Mascherano have shown a lack of speed necessary to maintain a position in the centre of defence and, though they have done well in their time with the club, maintaining a spot in the starting line up means Barcelona is risking their backline with slower, older and injury-prone defenders whereas Madrid has a wealth of options in which to both rely upon to start and to call up from the bench. The likes of Pepe and Raul Albiol alongside Varane and Ramos give Madrid a strong core of central defenders for a long season.
Now, Barcelona has options, too.
The club has been linked repeatedly to Paris Saint-Germaine’s Thiago Silva. The Brazilian defender showed he is a capable and smart centreback, so much so that he took an average Brazilian defensive line and made it competent enough to win the 2013 Confederations Cup. Truly, a backline made of defenders like Marcelo and Dani Alves should have been exposed more often than it was, a testament to Silva’s strong vision and physical ability. He, alongside Alves, would be the perfect fit for Barcelona. It’s why he’s being courted by the likes of Manchester United, too.
Curiously, David Moyes’ Manchester United team is also looking at Cesc Fabregas in an effort to, one must assume, replicate Arsenal in some fashion. Barcelona simply cannot afford to lose Fabregas, having already sold Thiago Alcantara to Bayern Munich. Andres Iniesta and Xavi Hernandez are only human, so selling long-term players at this stage is detrimental to the overall success of the club. It’s the centre of midfield that is the next area Barcelona need to target.
Young Sergi Roberto is the latest Barcelona B product to make his way up the ranks at the club, but with Thiago gone, Barcelona have little to call upon throughout the season. There is, of course, the established trio of Iniesta-Xavi-Sergio Busquets, and Fabregas is a constant in the starting line up as well, but on the bench, Barcelona have, well…Alex Song. It’s not enough, certainly, for a club that requires a consistently honed attacking midfielder.
As legs grow tired throughout the season, so too will Barcelona’s midfield, should the club not find a suitable player to compensate the contributions Xavi and Iniesta offer. In this position, Barcelona has options, too, though one less since Madrid swooped in for Malaga midfielder Isco one month ago. However, Barcelona should look not for a young Spanish player to fill in at midfield, rather, an older one: Xabi Alonso. He is, at once, a familiar, competent player whose time at Real Madrid may be up. Linked with moves to England, Alonso would make an excellent addition at Barcelona – he is already comfortable playing alongside the majority of the team and would finally, finally give Barcelona another option other than the ordinary Sergio Busquets in defensive midfield. Finally, Barcelona needs to figure out who the third forward in the 4-3-3 will be. The club has gone through forwards so regularly that running down the list of failed forwards over the last five years is actually rather depressing.
Samuel Eto’o, Thierry Henry and Zlatan Ibrahimovic played enough games with Barcelona to be considered suitable options yet each were shipped off without much thought, and for good reason – younger, stronger options. It’s why David Villa has been sold to Atletico Madrid for so little – his place in the team, as well as his time, was no longer assured, and, with young options like Cristian Tello and that Neymar fellow waiting in the wings (literally), Villa was excess to requirements. Now, Barcelona know for a fact that Lionel Messi at centre forward is not going to change – it works far too well to tinker with. Neymar on the left wing seems to be the consensus, which means Alexis Sanchez and Pedro will need to duke it out for a spot on the right wing. Let them compete. Meanwhile, Barcelona should look to find a real number nine, to play contrast to Messi’s “false nine” position.
This player, though not a starter, is completely missing at Barcelona and though the club has done well without a big target man up top, it will be increasingly difficult to find success in La Liga without one, as more and more teams figure out the Tiki-Taka style and combat it with physical defenders who boss around Barcelona’s smaller wingers and midfielders. Barcelona need not look far for an option – Roberto Soldado.
The Valencia forward has scored consistently in the league for years now and he would be a perfect forward for a team requiring something up top when under pressure. Barcelona is a side that, like a well-composed piece of music, flows from start to finish, but the club – or, rather, the core group of players – have shown that frustrating their style can result in an ineffective counter attacking measure.
Soldado coming in off the bench can give Barcelona another style of play, forcing the wingers to stop making runs and, instead, aim for a target in the centre of the box. Soldado is one option, Alvaro Negredo, the other. Both would work, and in reality, any player in this mold, such as Brazil’s Fred, could give Barcelona anotherdimension in attack. So, Thiago Silva, Xabi Alonso and Roberto Soldado, three players who would breath life back into the Barcelona XI and assure that a club in transition stays in a position of dominance. While these names may not actually grace Camp Nou, they are symbolic for the kind of players the club needs to target in this summer transfer window; a strong centreback, a depth midfielder and a target forward make for a well-rounded injection of reinforcements for Barcelona.
The future of Manchester United target Cesc Fabregas will be among the priority issues for new Barcelona head coach Gerardo Martino.
Barcelona confirmed they have struck an agreement for Martino to take over at the Nou Camp on a two-year deal.
The 50-year-old Argentinian succeeds Tito Vilanova, who stepped down from the role on Friday after one season in charge as he continues his battle with cancer.
It is not yet known when Martino will begin work at the Nou Camp, but it seems likely the transfer saga surrounding Fabregas will still be rumbling on with United reluctant to throw in the towel.
United have already made two bids for the former Arsenal captain but, with Barcelona continuing to insist the Spain midfielder is not for sale, the Red Devils could return with a third offer.
Fabregas was not on the agenda as Martino held a press conference in Rosario where he admitted Barcelona's interest had come out of the blue.
The former Paraguay coach also believes fellow Argentinian Lionel Messi had a say in his appointment.
Both Martino and Messi are from the Rosario region of Argentina and the four-time Ballon d'Or winner has spoken in glowing terms about his compatriot in the past.
Martino suspects Messi put in a good word for him with the Barcelona hierarchy.
"I don't know the details of the situation, (but) I have no doubts that Messi spoke with the club directors. I'm sure that Jorge (Messi's father) and Leo have had some weight in this decision,'' said Martino, who is looking forward to working with the world's top player.
Lionel Messi insists he had nothing to do with the appointment of Gerardo Martino as Barcelona coach.
Martino said in a press conference on Tuesday night that he was sure fellow Argentinian Messi and his father Jorge had put in a good word for him with the Barcelona hierarchy before the Catalan giants offered him the job.
Both Messi and Martino are from Rosario and Messi has in the past spoken in glowing terms of his compatriot.
However, the four-time Ballon d'Or winner has said he had no influence in Barca's decision.
"I have nothing to do with Martino's signing nor do I have to give any explanations. It was down to president (Sandro) Rosell and the club. I said before that he seemed a good coach, but I don't have to explain anything," he was quoted as saying by AS following Barca's friendly defeat to Bayern Munich.
"I don't know him personally, I've never met him. Not him nor Luis Enrique, the other one they've been talking about.
"I think he's a good signing, he showed at Newell's and with Paraguay what he's capable of. Hopefully he'll be good for us."
Martino, who led Newell's Old Boys to the Argentinian Clausura title last season and guided Paraguay to the quarter-finals of the 2010 World Cup and final of the 2011 Copa America, has agreed a two-year contract with Barca and will be presented on Friday lunchtime.
The 50-year-old replaces Tito Vilanova, who stepped down from the post last Friday as he continues his battle with cancer.
Pep Guardiola's former team meets his current employers in Wednesday's friendly when European champions Bayern Munich host Spanish giants Barcelona, who are on the hunt for a new manager.
Barcelona arrived in Munich without a head coach after Tito Vilanova resigned on Friday, as he battles against cancer, but the Spanish giants are expected to announce his successor soon.
Vilanova's assistant Jordi Roura will be in charge at Munich's Allianz Arena and the 45-year-old took charge of Barcelona from December to April when Vilanova was receiving treatment.
After Guardiola won 14 titles between 2008 and 2012 at Barcelona, the pre-season run out has added spice, especially given recent events which have strained relations between the two European powerhouses.
Guardiola took charge of Bayern last month, amid great fanfare, after the Bavarians lured the 42-year-old to Munich following his year's sabbatical in New York.
Guardiola has already poached Spain Under-21 captain Thiago Alcantara from Barcelona to bolster his star-studded midfield which includes Holland's Arjen Robben and France winger Franck Ribery.
But Guardiola stirred up bad blood with his former bosses earlier this month when he accused the Barcelona board of trying to "damage" him.
Guardiola lashed out in a press conference, making allegations against the board, which were later refuted, that he had snubbed Vilanova while he was being treated for cancer in New York.
"I will never forget that they used Tito's illness to cause me damage, because it's a lie that I never saw him in New York," he said.
With relations strained off the field, there is plenty of spice on it, although both teams are likely to name weakened teams.
Bayern's Germany stars Bastian Schweinsteiger and Mario Goetze are both recovering from injury, while neither team is expected to have their Confederations Cup stars in action.
Both Barcelona's new Brazil star Neymar and Spain's Carles Puyol, who is working his way back to fitness after knee surgery in March, are expected to sit it out.
Senior stars Javier Mascherano, Adriano Correia, Alex Song and Alexis Sanchez are likely to feature among a host of reserves, while Argentinian superstar Lionel Messi is set to play some part.
Barcelona have something to prove against Bayern having been humbled 7-0 on aggregate in last season's Champions League finals when the Germans backed up a 4-0 win in Munich with a 3-0 rout at the Camp Nou.
Having already chalked up wins over Bundesliga opposition Hamburg and Borussia Moenchengladbach in a pre-season tournament over the weekend, the Barcelona friendly is a big test for Guardiola's new-look Bayern.
He has introduced a 4-1-4-1 system, from the 4-2-3-1 formation which won last season's treble, and switched Germany captain Philipp Lahm from right-back into midfield with France winger Franck Ribery up front.
The game's kick-off time has been brought forward to 1830 local time (1630 GMT) to allow home-team fans to watch Germany's women in the semi-final of the 2013 European Championships.
With the departure of Tito Vilanova, due to his battle with cancer, the position of manager has become vacant at the helms of one of the greatest clubs in world football. The lucrative chair at the Nou camp looks set to be filled by the beginning of next week. As you can imagine speculation is rife as to who will be named as Vilanova’s predecessor, with Tottenham’s Andre Villas Boas numero uno with the bookies to take over.
However maybe Barcelona may opt to do what they have done with their last two managerial appointments and promote from within. This would most likely leave two people at the club as options for the Barcelona board to ponder over. Jordi Roura and Eusebio Sacristan.
Jordi Roura, for those that don’t know, is Barcelona’s current assistant manager. For those that do know you will probably only be thinking one thing. “wasn’t he the chap that was in charge when Barcelona we’re humiliated by Bayern Munich in the Champions League semi-final earlier this year.” Well yes, he was. But don’t let this fool you into thinking that is his only credentials! He has far more to offer.
He began his managerial career at CE L’Hospitalet at the start of the 07-08 season, I would now like to say he led them to promotion, however he didn’t. In fact he lasted just a few months before being fired in December. He then moved to Barcelona in 2009 and became a part of Guardiola’s technical staff, becoming assistant manager to Vilanova following his appointment as manager.
However there is another string to his bow, he has had experience of working alongside Carles Rexach in Japan, at Yokohoma Flugels, as part of his coaching staff. For those of you unaware Carles Rexach is a former Barcelona player and Assistant Manager alongside the legendary Johann Cryuff. let’s hope for Jordi’s sake that he learnt much from the man during his time in Japan.
Second on the list Eusebio Sacristan is the current Barcelona B manager. Eusebio’s playing days were somewhat successful, like Roura before him, he played for Barcelona under Johann Cryuff’s leadership and featured in a European Cup Winners Cup victory. After retiring in 2002 he opened a Coaching school in Valladolid, his home town, and gained his coaching degree. He then went on to become a part of Frank Rijkaard’s staff at Barcelona.
His only first team managerial experience comes in the form of being the head of Celta in the second division. After 15 months in charge he was dismissed from his post, even though he did succeed in keeping them up that season. He then went on to coach Barcelona B at the start of the 2011 season.
Now on paper neither of these two look like the most promising of propositions. But they could just hold exactly what Barcelona need, and to see why we must first look at the other side of the coin, Villas Boas. Villas Boas as mentioned earlier is the number one contender for the role at Barcelona, however does he fit the description needed by the club?
To begin with we have to look at Villas Boas at both spurs and Chelsea where he opted to play a 4-2-3-1 formation for a majority of his games. I have nothing wrong with this formation however if he is to move to Barcelona he will have to adopt a 4-3-3. Within Barcelona is continuity in coaching and tactics. Every coach in their youth system up coaches the same brand of football. The 4-3-3. This way players are never out of place on the pitch, this means that from the first time to pull on the Barcelona shirt in La Masia to stepping out for the first team at the Camp Nou they are never unaware of the position that they are playing.
On the other hand this may not be as much of a problem, as Villas Boas already looks set on implementing the 4-3-3 formation at White Hart Lane. He began using the formation towards the end of last season and with the arrival of Paulinho it is more than likely he’s planning on playing this 4-3-3 style for the 2013-14 season.
The second problem that Barcelona face with the appoint of Boas is a switch in coaching staff. When moving to a club, many managers prefer to bring their own staff than work with those already around, regardless of their success at that club. An example would be David Moyes’ culling of many of the back room staff at Old Trafford after his arrival earlier this year. With many changes in personal on the
pitch already apparent for Barcelona, with David Villa and Thiago already out the door and other stars being hounded by European elites it is important that Barcelona keep continuity within their staff. However this is difficult with the appoint of an outside manager as you must balance this need for continuity with the task of settling in a new face. Barcelona will find it difficult to keep all parties happy.
The third problem in the appoint of a Boas is his lack of Barcelona football. Barcelona sits within Catalonia, a Autonomous community of Spain. Catalonia has a proud heritage and FC Barcelona is one of the main identities of Catalans in recent years. Being a former player of Barcelona or having a tie to the region creates a level of rapport with the fans. Guardiola had this being a former player of Barcelona, as did Johann Cryuff. Tito Vilanova may never have played in their first team however he did play for Barcelona B, and he is a Catalan. True, you may look now at Frank Rijkaard, the last manager who was neither Catalan nor a former Barcelona player. However his appoint came immediately after the appoint of the new Barcelona president Joan Laporta in 2003. Laporta won the presidency race for Barcelona that year based on many things. However being a Catalan certainly didn’t inhibit his chances, quite the opposite.
Now I’m not saying that Barcelona shouldn’t hire someone who has never played for the club or who isn’t a Catalan. What I am saying is that if you have these two boxes ticked, the die hard fans at the Camp Nou would certainly appear to be happier.
Whoever the new manager of Barcelona ends up being, with the odds of who is the favourite changing regularly, (as I write this it appears that Villas Boas now appears to be second favourite with Gerardo Martino taking his position as the safe bet, by tomorrow it may be someone completely new) I believe Barcelona could save themselves a lot of trouble by simply appointing one of the two applicants mentioned above. Although their previous managerial careers don’t show themselves as standout candidates they still could be the perfect fit for the position at the Nou Camp.
If Barcelona do choose to hire from outside, they could still save themselves a lot of trouble by hiring someone who has been a former player, and former coach for the club. Can anyone say Luis Enrique?
Gerardo Martino has emerged as the likely replacement for Tito Vilanova as Barcelona coach.
According to widespread media reports in Spain, the Argentinian is set to be confirmed as the next Barca boss on a three-year contract following talks on Monday.
The 50-year-old led Newell's Old Boys to the Argentinian Clausura title last season but recently severed ties with the club.
Barcelona have made no official announcement.
The Spanish champions are searching for a new coach after announcing on Friday night that Vilanova was stepping down from the post as he continues his battle with cancer.
The 44-year-old, who led Barca to the Primera Division title in his only season in charge after replacing Pep Guardiola last summer, had a tumour removed from his throat in late 2011, but suffered a relapse a year after.
He underwent another operation on his parotid gland in December before beginning a course of chemotherapy and radiotherapy in New York.
