Barcelona appoints Flick to replace Xavi in ​​spin-the-bottle coaching

Barcelona announced on Wednesday the appointment of Hansi Flick as its new coach, signing him to a contract until June 30, 2026, following the dismissal of Xavi Hernandez last week.

“FC Barcelona and Hansi Flick have reached an agreement for the German to become the men’s first-team football coach until June 30, 2026,” the club said in a statement.

At the end of April, Barcelona president Joan Laporta expressed his deep pride in retaining Xavi Hernandez as coach for the coming season.

However, at the end of May, Laporta made a surprise move by sacking the former Barcelona midfield legend and appointing German coach Hansi Flick in his place.

Since his re-election in March 2021, the Laporta leadership has lacked a clear plan, relying instead on intuition. While intuition has its benefits, it may not be enough to support the club’s success.

Laporta sold parts of the club and jeopardized future income to immediately raise money for heavy transfer investment. Laporta opted for a strategy to achieve quick success, with limited results.

Barcelona won the La Liga title for the first time since 2019 in 2022/23, but they are still struggling in Europe. This season everything fell apart, with Real Madrid storming to La Liga glory and Barcelona finishing the campaign without a trophy.

“It is fantastic news that Xavi is staying. The team we have, which is growing with many young talents, needs this stability,” Laporta said weeks before making a spectacular U-turn.

For his part, Xavi did not mince his words about the challenges Flick faced. “You will suffer – this is a very complicated place to be,” Xavi warned his successor.

Barcelona’s ‘entorno’ – everything that swirls around the club and increases the pressure, from the media to the fans, to loose-lipped directors and former players who join in – will remain the same. However, hiring Flick has changed the direction of the club.

The majority of their coaches have played for Barcelona – Xavi, Ronald Koeman, Luis Enrique, Pep Guardiola, among others. Flick, on the other hand, has never played or coached in Spain, let alone at the club itself. The 59-year-old’s biggest success was leading Bayern Munich to a six-match triumph in 2020, including an 8-2 humiliation of Barcelona, ​​but he struggled with the German national team and became the first coach ever to be sacked .

Barcelona sporting director Deco warned in February that Barcelona needed to move away from their traditional ‘tiki-taka’ style. “The president agrees with me on this: there needs to be a profound change – there is a method that is worn out,” he said.

Deep change

Flick’s style is attacking, but more direct than Barcelona usually try to play, with more crosses. The coach will be keen to work with Ilkay Gundogan, whom he has appointed as Germany captain, and Robert Lewandowski, a key player in his triumphant Bayern Munich side.

He has coaching experience that Xavi lacked, having only worked at Al-Sadd in Qatar before taking charge at Camp Nou. Flick tends to line up in a 4-2-3-1 formation, rather than Barcelona’s 4-3-3, although they are not far off from that.

The club’s financial problems will be a key factor in whether the German can improve Barcelona’s fortunes. After Sergio Busquets left, Barcelona failed to replace him adequately, unable to afford Xavi’s top target, Real Sociedad’s Martin Zubimendi.

With new champions and rivals Real Madrid set to sign Paris Saint-Germain superstar Kylian Mbappe, keeping track of Los Blancos will be a tough task for any coach.