After being hit with Xavi’s decision to leave at the end of the season, Barcelona have the responsibility of finding a new coach to take over the project, but are not ready to compromise any of their filters for the sake of bringing in a replacement.
Among coaches that have been considered, Barcelona have already discarded the option of signing a few coaches due to various reasons, like lack of coaching at the highest level, or the lack of a philosophical fit.
And as far as replacements are concerned, Barça have been eyeing Roberto De Zerbi and Hansi Flick as top priority contingency plans. However, in recent weeks, a new name has popped up on their agenda, from Portugal.
Mission Amorim?
Reports in the last few days have confirmed that Barcelona are ‘racing’ to reach an agreement with Sporting coach Ruben Amorim.
The Portuguese ace has been attracting a ton of interest from elite teams across Europe, including Liverpool, who will need to sort out a replacement for the outgoing legendary manager Jurgen Klopp.
Now, Fabrizio Romano has reported that Amorim has three different release clauses in his contract.
A €30 million release clause, which is valid from clubs within Portugal. If one of the other three big dogs in Porto or Benfica would want to pursue Amorim, they will need to shell out €30 million to trigger his release clause.
There is then a €20 million release clause which is valid for clubs outside Portugal. Ideally, this is what Barcelona would have to pay to get Amorim’s signature.
However, there is a third release clause of €10 million, which is a verbal pact between the coach and Sporting in case of a top club proposal.
This is where Barcelona, Liverpool, and Bayern Munich could use their power as elite teams to pursue Amorim’s signature.
Barcelona want Xavi to stay
As of now, Barcelona are pushing for Xavi to stay. They believe he is the perfect fit for the project and will try to convince him to stay, which could become a reality depending on how the team finish the season.
The coach, on the other hand is adamant about not continuing. And while he has claimed he wants to leave on a sabbatical, there have been reports of interest from Ajax hoping to pull him in as their coach at the start of the next season.
