Pep Guardiola has been nominated as the most suitable coach to lead Barcelona next season, succeeding Xavi Hernandez, who previously announced that he would leave the Catalan club at the end of the current season after a series of poor results.
Barcelona is intensifying the search for a new technical director, as Joan Laporta, club president, and Deco, sporting director, have drawn up a list of potential coaches that includes Hansi Flick and Joachim Loew, in addition to Jurgen Klopp, despite the difficulty of contracting with him because he decided to take a year off.
But there is another name strongly nominated to succeed Xavi, according to information received from “Radio Catalunya”, which is the Italian coach, Roberto De Zerbe, the current coach of the English club Brighton, and he is the coach that Guardiola has already nominated to take over the job.
Guardiola had high praise for De Zerbe during his time at Brighton, and last May he described him as “one of the most influential coaches of the past twenty years.”
The City coach also continued to speak in glowing terms about the style of football presented by the Italian coach and his team.
De Zerbe’s name has been mentioned increasingly this week as speculation begins to mount around Barcelona’s next manager There is no doubt that the Italian has impressed at Brighton, but it may not be easy to tempt him away from the Premier League.
Brighton have already made it clear they do not want him to leave, while De Zerbe is believed to have a €15m release clause in his contract. Bayern Munich are also said to be considering De Zerbe as a potential replacement for Thomas Tuchel, and Liverpool have also been linked with a move for the Italian.
Both clubs are also expected to make a move to sign Bayer Leverkusen coach Xabi Alonso, meaning an interesting managerial market awaits us this summer.
But unexpectedly, Barcelona fans, according to a poll conducted by “Sport” newspaper, do not prefer to sign a contract with the Italian coach and believe that the German coach, whether Klopp or Flick, is the most suitable given their great experience that Barcelona currently needs.