Barcelona pick De Zerbi to replace Xavi as manager

The club’s sports commission has given its backing to the addition of Brighton’s Italian coach who has shone in the Premier League.

As it stands, there is a name that has received approval from all members of the Sports Commission: his name is Roberto De Zerbi. According to information obtained by AS, the Italian coach of Brighton and Hove Albion, currently sitting ninth in the English Premier League, has the endorsement of Joan Laporta and Deco to be Xavi Hernández’s replacement next season. In fact, the coach’s representatives, Edmundo Kabchi and Edoardo Cnajr, met with the sports director this Wednesday for over three hours in Barcelona.

Barça line up Brighton’s De Zerbi

While it is true that the reason for the meeting, as reported in the media, was to lay the groundwork for the renewal of Ronald Araújo, it is also true that there was extensive discussion about the possibility of De Zerbi landing in Barcelona himself. The main obstacle to completing the operation is the coach’s release clause, set at around ten million euros (c.$10.8m). This is an amount that gives pause to the club, but they have asked for some patience to reach an agreement. Barcelona assured De Zerbi’s agents that if they manage to overcome this obstacle, the Brighton coach will take over the reins of the first team from 1 July 2024.

The sports management team considers De Zerbi the natural heir to the Blaugrana DNA, also blessed by club legend Pep Guardiola.

“Brighton is the team that builds the game best in the world,” Pep said at the beginning of the season. “There is no better team when it comes to progressing with the ball from the goalkeeper to the final third.”

This statement did not gone unnoticed within the Catalan club, which has closely followed the steps of the 44-year-old Italian coach. In addition, De Zerbi has shown himself to be unafraid to bet on youngsters, as demonstrated by demanding the arrival of Ansu Fati at the club. All these factors open the doors to FC Barcelona for him, provided he reaches an agreement to leave the English club. It should not be forgotten that De Zerbi has a contract there until 2026, so negotiations are expected to be tough and complicated.

Who else is on Barcelona manager shortlist?

What is clear is that the list of candidates to coach Barcelona has been substantially reduced, for one reason or another, in recent days. Whether because they were discarded from the beginning (Rafa Márquez and Thiago Motta) or because they publicly ruled themselves out (Imanol, Míchel, and Arteta) or because they are considered impossible dreams (Pep Guardiola and Jürgen Klopp), the list has been effectively reduced to two names: Roberto de Zerbi and Hansi Flick.

The German coach also has many supporters in the club, although there is not the same unanimity as with De Zerbi. With Flick, it is highlighted that he was the architect of Bayern Munich’s sextuple, which crushed Barcelona in the Champions League (2-8) and that his style of play is very similar to the Blaugrana, both in his proposal and his presentation on the field. He also has the advantage that negotiations would be very fast as he is currently unemployed after his failure with the German national team. In any case, in recent hours, the shadow of the Bavarian club has appeared, which could be considering Flick as a possible replacement for Thomas Tuchel on the Bayern bench.

Be that as it may, at the moment, De Zerbi’s name has the most supporters in the club. However, we will have to wait to see if the coach’s agents are able to resolve a situation that seems very complex at first glance: a contract until 2026 and a release clause of 10 million. The last coach who had a release clause to sign for Barcelona was Xavi, who paid five million to Al Sadd to fulfill his lifelong dream. We will see how many sacrifices De Zerbi is willing to make to coach at the Camp Nou.