Looking for a successor for Xavi
Is there something going on between Hansi Flick and FC Barcelona?
January 29, 2024, 8:36 p.m
One thing is certain: Xavi will step down as coach of FC Barcelona at the end of the season. It remains unclear: who will be the successor? Jürgen Klopp would certainly be the ideal solution, but he has expressed other plans. Barça legends are hardly available. Hansi Flick, on the other hand, does.
Things have become quiet around Hansi Flick. No interviews, no TV appearances, no red carpet – the former national coach and successful coach of FC Bayern has retreated into private life in Baden. Recently a report about a hip operation made the rounds. Flick, it was said, wanted to get fit for a new job in the summer – and then be on everyone’s lips again. From Bammental to Barcelona?
In any case, at the glorious FC Barcelona, Flick is considered a candidate to succeed club icon Xavi, who surprisingly announced his retirement at the end of the season on Saturday. Various media outlets report this unanimously. The Catalan sports newspaper “Mundo Deportivo” counts the 58-year-old among the “primeros candidatos”, i.e. the first candidate in the “Casting post Xavi”.
The “El Nacional” portal goes even further. Flick has already told Barça that he is planning a “radical change” in the squad if he is hired. Four stars would have to go and at least three new ones would have to come, including his former protégés Leroy Sané and Joshua Kimmich from FC Bayern. Xavi had already wanted the latter.
Flick’s advantage compared to the other five candidates named by “Mundo Deportivo”, including Jürgen Klopp, who is leaving Liverpool FC: He would certainly be available. Everyone else is contractually bound or wants to take a break like Klopp. Klopp, wrote “Mundo Deportivo”, would be “top”, in an online survey by the paper he is clearly in the lead and Flick is distant in third place. The fact that Klopp is coming is a “utopia”.
The greylag geese are still following Flick
So Flick? The man who once led Bayern to six titles and humiliated the great Barça 8-2 along the way? President Joan Laporta had this coach in mind when he asked Flick for a video call in 2021. But the German canceled and gave the DFB his word, and Xavi took over Barça.
Meanwhile, Flick’s reputation has suffered. The disaster in Qatar doesn’t just haunt him from a sporting perspective, the documentary on the desert World Cup (keyword: greylag geese) also made the former player whisperer appear in a different, paler light. After that, Flick failed to breathe new life into his team; his exit last September was inevitable after leaden months.
Nevertheless, it appears to be a logical choice – also because other solutions are ruled out. Klopp doesn’t want to, Barça icons Pep Guardiola (Manchester City) or Luis Enrique (Paris St. Germain) are contractually bound, as are Mikel Arteta (Arsenal FC), Michel (Girona FC) or Imanol Alguacil (Real Sociedad). Of those traded, only Sergio Conceicao (FC Porto) and Thiago Motta (FC Bologna) would be available in the summer. Hansi Flick at least seems to be ready for a new beginning.