At this moment everybody seems to agree that it will be Barcelona B manager josep Guardiola (37), but in the days before the still unconfirmed (and unofficial) decision on Monday (read more here) there was a lot of speculation on who would replace current Barcelona manager Frank Rijkaard (45), whose dismissal was a sure fact after the Champions League elimination last week.
Mourinho
Last weekend former Chelsea manager José Mourinho (45) was still the man who supposedly divided the Barcelona board. Madrid sports tabloid As even linked names to the opposed groups. Barcelona president Joan Laporta, supported by vice presidents Jaume Ferrer and Alfons Godall and board members Rafael Yuste and Evarist Murtra, was in in favour of Guardiola. Barcelona vice president Ferran Soriano, supported by almost all the other board members, preferred Mourinho.
Madrid sports tabloid Marca claimed on Saturday that Mourinho had rejected Barcelona's proposal to become the next Barcelona manager and to be assisted by Guardiola.
Asked about the rumours saying that Mourinho had already found an agreement with Inter Milan, his agent Jorge Mendes denied any agreement to British televsion channel Sky Sports: "Mourinho has not signed any deal with a club and is still free. It is certain that many clubs are interested but he still has not decided his destination."
Pellegrini
Madrid sports tabloid As claimed on Friday that Villareal manager Manuel Pellegrini (54) had received phone calls from Barcelona officials to ask the Chilean coach how he would feel about a possible future proposal from Barcelona.
Catalan sports paper Sport reported that Chilean media claimed that there had been an informal contact between Pellegrini, his agent Jesús Martínez and Barcelona representatives.
Ancelotti
Catalan radio station Catalunya Ràdio claimed last Thursday that a Barcelona board member had contacted the agent of AC Milan manager Carlo Ancelotti (48) asking if the Italian would be willing to coach Barcelona next season. This was said to be an individual initiative by the board member, who was opposed to the Guardiola option.
Laudrup
Madrid sports tabloid As claimed on Saturday that Getafe manager Michel Laudrup (43) had received the approval of Barcelona unofficial external adviser Johan Cruijff. After some first contacts, Barcelona president Joan laporta, Barcelona sports director Txiki Begiristain and Bayram Tutumlu, the agent of Laudrup, would meet this week to start the negotiations.
Getafe president Angel Torres had fed the speculation by stating that Laudrup would leave his club and by telling in an interview with Spanish radio station Radio Marca that now that his club had prepared managers for Valencia, Real Madrid and Barcelona (read more here), they would now make one for Atlético Madrid.
Blanc
During the Monday meeting, Barcelona sports director Txiki Begiristain evaluated the candidacies of Mourinho, Pellegrini, Laudrup and Bordeaux manager Laurent Blanc (42) but concluded that Guardiola was the best option (read more here). The Monday decision is expected to be approved during the board meeting this afternoon.
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3 comments:
This team neeeeeeeeeeeeeeds Mourinho!
MOURINHO!!! all the way!
I think the Barcelona would be making a terrible mistake if they did not hire Mourinho as Rijkaard's succesor. What this team needs is "tough love": a manager who will not tolerate prima-dona attitudes and who will rule with an iron fist. At first, Frank's laid back, "players coach" attitude won the players over. But now it is clearly evident that the players have tuned him out and turned their backs on him. This teams lacks discipline and direction and Mourinho is just the type of no-nonsense manager the team needs right now.
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