It's official. Coach Ernesto Valverde was thanked by FC Barcelona on Monday evening and will be replaced by "Quique" Setien. The blaugrana club issued a press release via Twitter and will hold a press conference on Tuesday to introduce their new coach.
Agreement between el FC Barcelona and Ernesto Valverde per la finalització del seu contracte com entrenador del primer equip.
Gràcies per tot, Ernesto. Molta is coming out in the future. pic.twitter.com/h5LjdAwxOa
"Setien is the chosen to replace Valverde," already announced Marca, the best-selling daily newspaper in Spain, on its site Monday evening. According to the Catalan sports newspaper El Mundo Deportivo, the leaders of Barça met in the night from Sunday to Monday to discuss the future of Valverde, and the latter met President Josep Maria Bartomeu for almost an hour on Monday, just before the ordinary meeting of the board of directors ("Junta directiva") of FC Barcelona, which lasted more than four hours Monday at Camp Nou.
Valverde showed up as expected when training resumed on Monday morning, the first after three days of rest for players returning from Saudi Arabia where club blaugrana was eliminated in the semifinals of the Spanish Super Cup by Atlético de Madrid (3-2), and led the session normally.
Valverde pays the addition of chess in LDC
After a nightmarish week, Ernesto Valverde (55) arrived three hours before the start of Barça training (scheduled for 11 a.m.) in the facilities of the Joan Gamper sports center, the club's training center, which he left by car around 2 p.m., Spanish sports press reported.
Shaken by disappointments in the Champions League (Roma in 2018, Liverpool in 2019), criticized by supporters for the lack of brilliance of his game, dropped by his leaders, who went to meet the ex-Catalan legend Xavi in Doha ( Qatar) to offer him his job, Valverde has seen his situation weaken in recent days.
Xavi (39), current coach of the Qatari club Al-Sadd, refused to train his heart club for the time being, but the Barcelona leaders would have continued to probe several technicians to replace Valverde, according to the Iberian press. According to the Spanish specialist press, unanimous Monday evening, Barça finally decided to entrust the keys of the first team to the former coach of Betis Seville (2017-2019), Enrique "Quique" Setien (61).
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In addition to the failure in the Supercup and the delays in the future of its coach, Barça suffered another blow on Sunday: the Catalan club lost its star striker Luis Suarez for four months after a right knee operation.