Before Xavi Hernandez and Barcelona decided to U-turn on his decision to leave the club, there were two candidates that stood out to take over from him, albeit because of their availability, Barca Atletic coach Rafael Marquez and former Bayern Munich coach Hansi Flick.
The week prior to Xavi’s ‘re-appointment’, Marquez was strongly touted as the candidate to take over from his ex-teammate. Yet in the aftermath of Xavi’s decision, there was plenty said about a lack of consensus on him continuing from within Barcelona’s board. Equally, Laporta and Barcelona were seemingly due to meet with Flick in the subsequent days to discuss his candidacy.
Agent Pini Zahavi, who holds a strong relationship with Laporta, pushed hard for Flick to be the one to take over from Xavi, and ultimately did not get his wish. Matteo Moretto has told Fabrizio Romano’s Daily Briefing that Flick was never particularly close to getting the job though, as not all at Barcelona were convinced he had the right characteristics from the job.
As has been seen, Laporta ultimately calls the shots, and had Flick convinced him, then perhaps he would have stood a chance. Any frustration on Zahavi’s part towards Laporta would have been understandable, given he had spent so much time just trying to get him in the room.
suzcdenuy
341
Decision to continue with Xavi is the worst decision this board has ever taken. Xavi is definitely not at a top manager level yet. You cannot learn on the job at a major club like Barca. Xavi hasn't figured how his football style has to be yet. This is very much unlike how Arteta was building his Arsenal team. He had that vision and we could see that in his style and would know that it's a work in progress in the right direction. After two years of Xavi, we are still we were, if not worse. Nothing has improved and we can't really see any direction Xavi wants to take this team to. He seems clueless. I don't even want to go on length how he treats an 18 year top talent in Vitor Roque. Xavi just seems to hate the kid for no reason. It's now one more year of sad, boring and depressing football. Xavi is so egoistic and it hurts when he tries to put the blame on the players, highlighting individual mistakes, when losing the games rather than looking at a glance at his own non-existent style of play or tactics. It hurts as a loyal Barca fan.