About a week ago, the football world went into a bit of a shock when, within a day, Jurgen Klopp and Xavi announced that they were leaving Liverpool and Barcelona.
The German said that he is tired after nine years on the lines at Anfield and needs to be refreshed and the symbol of the Catalans said that the pressures on him in the two years in which he is in the position of coach have hurt him mentally and after the results of the current season he feels that he does not want to be a burden on a place he loves so much.
Their announcements probably started a rumor mill about possible replacements for such sought-after jobs, but also opened an interesting conversation in Europe, that we may be on our way to one of the crazy summers we've seen with an unreasonable amount of coaches ending their careers, perhaps on the way to an unprecedented game of chairs.
Apart from Klopp and Xavi, Thomas Tuchel is under a magnifying glass at Bayern Munich, Erik ten Haag is in a never-ending test at Manchester United and may also pay a price for the lack of success.
Mauricio Pochettino fails to lift Chelsea, Edin Trezic may say goodbye to Dortmund, in Italy it is reported that Antonio Conte is expected to replace Stefano Pioli in Milan, and there is also quite a bit of speculation about the continuation of Mikel Arteta's career at Arsenal, despite the denials.
In addition, Jose Mourinho is free at the moment and certainly did not say that he is desperate for another adventure, Roberto de Zerbi, the coach of Brighton, is in the registers of quite a few prestigious clubs and Xavi Alonso, who is leading Leverkusen to a wonderful season so far, is also already linked to Real Madrid and Liverpool.
Add Unai Emery, who is successful at Aston Villa, Thiago Motta, who is considered a rising star with Bologna, most of them say that he looks like a very intriguing and successful coach with Sporting Lisbon, Daniele de Rossi, who came to stabilize Roma and is not sure if he will stay, Walter Mazzarri, who came to Napoli but has no reference for a long stay In the southern city and of course Hanzi Flick who is currently at home - and you will get good enough reasons for journalists to work overtime.
Xabi Alonso.
A very large prospect for the upgrade, photo: AP
And if we go back to Barcelona and Liverpool, which is why we gathered, their next appointments will keep football fans busy in the coming months.
Barcelona have always been an unusual club when it comes to appointments, with maintaining the philosophy at least as important as the achievements.
That's why they gave the job to Frank Rijkaard in 2003 given the club's never-ending connection with Dutch football.
That's why they appointed Pep Guardiola after one season in charge of the reserve team and that's why it didn't interest the club captains that Xavi only coached in Qatar before he came to lift the team from difficult years.
The fact that Barça is still in financial chaos and has an unbalanced squad, will require a coach who knows how to think outside the box and of course can still meet the bar of expectations that does not change, no matter how many difficulties there are off the field.
Barca dreams of Klopp, but it is likely that they will have to settle for a much more modest name.
Roberto de Zerbi.
Also linked to Barcelona, photo: AFP
For Liverpool, Xavi Alonso is of course considered the preferred name, certainly in light of his history as a player in the club and the good memory the fans have of him, but also Bayern Munich, where he also had good years, may tempt him and keep him in the Bundesliga.
Alonso rubbed shoulders with the youth of Real Sociedad, his youth team, before going to coach a senior team, which gave him many points of credit with professional managers in Europe and Carlo Ancelotti's stay at Real Madrid, is the only reason that took the Blancos out of the race after him.
And in all the expected game of chairs, it is possible that many coaches will take the words of Klopp and Xavi and think carefully before any offer they receive.
Suddenly people are starting to understand the prices that a coaching position can charge, certainly for coaches who have blood ties to the teams they sign.
Journalists, editors, media people, fans, former players and former coaches have led to coach firings becoming an entertainment industry in itself - something the coaches are forced to talk about and worse, worry more about their livelihood and family life.
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