A New Coach for FC Barcelona

When the story broke today, the webiverse exploded in a tornado of activity. All signs point to FC Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola calling his coaching tenure at the club to an end. There is some talk from sources that English and Italian clubs have made approaches, and that is certainly an option, but more than likely the Catalan tactician will take his tired and weary self off the Camp Nou hamster-wheel and take a prolonged sabbatical.

Who then to take the bench at Barca? This can't have been a surprise. This has been the talk celebre for at least the past two years. Sporting Director Andoni Zubizarreta has to have a list of available coaches sitting on his desk. Well, it seems those names have made it to the media. Laurent Blanc, Ernesto Valverde, Andre Vilas Boas, Luis Enrique or Joachim Low. Ronald Koeman's name has even been heard.

Laurent Blanc, the current National team coach of France has some Barcelona DNA, as does Ernesto Valverde who coaches at Olympiakos in Greece, but neither fits the bill I think of unquestionable replacement for a club-legend. Bielsa is a spiritual godfather for Guardiola, they have a similar bent as proponents of attacking football, but I think Bielsa has found himself a perfect slot at Athletic. Los Leones are one of a kind, the best of both world's, somewhere between a club team and the best of an international team considering to many Basques it already is. Bielsa is crazy, but he'd be crazier to leave Bilbao. Crazier still would be to hire Koeman or someone like Low, whose club career is even less stellar than Koeman's.

Andre Vilas-Boas? The Portuguese coach got a bum-rap at Chelsea FC. He took the blame for his players quitting on him, but this is not a club that fashions itself as a place to rehabilitate CV's. Vilas-Boas will return to coaching, no one wins the Europa League and then falls off the coaching map, but not at Barcelona: not now.

Luis Enrique? The AS Roma progetto is almost over. I know that the squad, his Sporting Director and a good portion of the fans have backed their embattled coach, but the results haven't been there and it has been difficult to circumnavigate player-power and his handling of the Francesco Totti situation has been less than tactful. Implanting a style of football that is seen by many as an extension of the Barcelona school in Rome, where tradition borders on insularity, has been an even greater hurdle. Roma's burden might be Barca's good fortune seeing as he has already succeeded Guardiola as Barcelona B's coach. He looks to me to be the most qualified coach, but I don't see that taking place either.

I'm not sure who it would be but it is likely to be someone that Sandro Rosell himself has a hand in choosing, which means some sort of fleeting connection to his Nike/Brazil roots. Luiz Felipe Scolari, maybe? They've been friends since Scolari coached Brazil and Rosell was his Nike marketing liaison. Rosell's also the one who pushed for Jose Mourinho when they were first implementing their project at the beginning of Laporta's term and the group chose Ryjkaard instead. Rosell has been looking to put his own stamp on this, his Presidency, one that has little to do with Laporta. Unfortunately, I wouldn't be surprised if they chose a big-name replacement who had little to do with the traditional Barcelona/ Johann Cruyff style of play we have been used to seeing.