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With health issues taking a toll, Tito Vilanova rightly decided to leave football and focus on his health. Now, the reigning Spanish champions are working round the clock to find a good replacement. Earlier, bookies touted Swansea manager, Michael Laudrup and Tottenham’s Andre-Villas Boas as favourites to take the managerial post.
However, it now appears that the Catalan giants are going to pick between fan favourite Luis Enrique and Gerardo Martino. Here’s a look at the men that could step onto the big stage and lead Barcelona to break more records like Pep Guardiola did years back.
Luis Enrique
Recent reports suggest that the former Roma manager is set to replace Vilanova at Camp Nou’s dugout.
The Spaniard spent almost eight years at Barcelona and despite joining the club from bitter rivals Real Madrid, has the respect and love of the fans of the Catalonian club. Reports also claim that the club’s hierarchy is keen on having Enrique as the manager as compared to other options.
Should he be handed the tough task of managing one of the biggest clubs in world football, Enrique could prove to be a success story as he is no outsider to the philosophy the club has adopted in recent years. After successfully managing the club’s B team, he could be exactly what the club needs at this point in time. Managing the youth team and playing for the senior side for a long time means that Enrique would be in a good position to quickly set the ground running as soon as he re-joins the club.
After representing Sporting Gijon for two years, Enrique was snapped up by Real Madrid but in a very sensational yet controversial move, the striker chose to see off his contract at the capital club to move to Barcelona on a free transfer. Understandably, Barca faithful took their time in accepting the Spain international but very soon, he won the hearts of Los Cules.
Enrique has the honour of winning the domestic league for both Real Madrid and Barcelona and has also tasted European success during his time with the Catalan club. As a manager, Enrique guided Barcelona B to a return to second division.
Gerardo Martino
Gerardo Martino is the other name that has been hotly linked with the vacant managerial post at Camp Nou and is the bookies favourite to become the manager of the La Liga giants. Tata, as he is known by fans in Argentina, guided Newell’s Old Boys to the Argentine Torneo Final title this year.
Should Barcelona choose to handover the reins to Martino, it will not be an outrageous decision. The former Paraguay manager is a disciple of Marcelo Bielsa and has a very similar philosophy about the game that his mentor and Guardiola have. If Newell’s Old Boys’ performances this year are looked at, the Rosario giants played truly exciting football. Martino perfectly espoused Bielsa’s fundamentals of high tempo, quick passing, pressing and defending as a team during his time in Argentina and this is exactly the reason why he could be a success at Camp Nou.
As a player, Martino was the on-the-field personification of everything that Bielsa told his players during his time at Newell’s Old Boys. Although he might have only won three trophies as a player, Martino guided Paraguay to the World Cup in 2010 and was even named South American Coach of the Year in 2007, thanks to his exceptional leadership skills as the manager of Paraguay.
This is not the first time in recent years that Barcelona have had to choose a manager. Many teams suffer a lot due to such problems but not the Catalan giants. Despite the departure of Pep Guardiola, the club prevailed. Now that Vilanova is gone, it is still unlikely to see them struggle due to the fact that the club’s mentality is the same and the two men that have been drawn out of the initial shortlist, are equally capable to lead the club to new heights should they be given a chance.
