Since Saturday and the improbable home defeat against Villarreal (3-5), it has been a given. After this new snub in La Liga, which follows the elimination of the Copa del Rey and the heavy setback against Real Madrid (4-1) in the final of the Spanish Super Cup, Xavi announced that he would leave the bench of FC Barcelona at the end of the season. “It’s a formula that I accept because it was Xavi who proposed it to me, and he is a legend of the club, an honest, dignified person who loves Barça,” declared this Sunday to the club media president Joan Laporta.
Obviously, the question of his succession agitates supporters and followers. According to the daily Sport, a large part of the workforce would like to see Luis Enrique land. A former highly appreciated player at Camp Nou, the current coach of Paris Saint-Germain held the reins of the Blaugrana from 2014 to 2017, winning in the process (among others), a Champions League, two Ligas and three Copas del Rey.
An attractive, but improbable project this summer
According to the Barcelona newspaper, the first two captains of Barça, Sergi Roberto and goalkeeper Marc-André Ter Stegen are among the most fervent fans of “Lucho”, in memory of the beautiful things experienced under his orders in the middle of the last decade . Even young people like Pedri, Gavi and Ferran Torres, who knew the Asturian when he led the Spanish selection (from 2018 to 2022), would like to evolve under his leadership in Catalonia.
Despite this great enthusiasm, Sport does not hide the major obstacle to a return of the technician: his attractive contract which binds him to PSG until June 2025. If Luis Enrique has never hidden his affection for Barça, he is undoubtedly not ready to to dump the leader of the French championship this summer for one of his exes. And Paris is not ready to let go, in the current state of things anyway.