Barcelona appoint Hansi Flick - key questions answered on Xavi's replacement (2024)

Barcelona have a new manager — Hansi Flick is replacing Xavi.

The decision to sack Xavi, a legendary club midfielder who took over as coach in November 2021, came on Friday. It ended a remarkable few months of turmoil and turnarounds.

In January, Xavi said he would be stepping down as Barca boss at the end of the season. In the fallout of a 5-3 home defeat by Villarreal, he described the role as a “cruel job” that “wears you down”, adding: “At some point, you realise there’s no point in staying.”

Barcelona’s leaders began their manager search. Ex-Germany and Bayern Munich coach Flick was one of the candidates they spoke to but, by March, they had cooled their interest. As results improved, club president Joan Laporta said he would try and convince Xavi to stay.

Xavi, 44, did eventually change his mind. On April 25, he posed with sporting director Deco and Laporta in a symbolic act of unity at the club’s training ground, celebrating the manager’s decision to remain in charge for another season.

A month later, Xavi was sacked, as new tensions ignited longstanding concerns over his suitability. Laporta too, had seemingly changed his mind.

All the uncertainty, and how Xavi’s sacking and Flick’s courtship have been handled, means there are several key questions worth exploring in more depth — about how Barca got to this point, and what might happen next.

Why Flick?

During the 2021 campaign that saw him elected for a second term as Barca president, Laporta repeatedly said how impressed he was by the latest wave of German managers. Thomas Tuchel had just won the Champions League with Chelsea, a year after Flick had done the same with Bayern. Current Germany boss Julian Nagelsmann was also mentioned.

Flick was not at the top of Laporta’s list three years ago, but he is now. The identity of the manager’s new agent helps explain why. Pini Zahavi is one of Laporta’s best contacts in football. Their special relationship orchestrated Robert Lewandowski’s signing from Bayern two summers ago.

Club sources — who, like all those cited here, preferred to speak anonymously to protect relationships — said Barca valued Flick’s experience and winning record in charge of elite dressing rooms. The 59-year-old ticked several boxes in Laporta’s plans. He has also worked with Lewandowski at Bayern, and with Marc-Andre ter Stegen and Ilkay Gundogan at Germany.

As soon as it became clear Barca were in the market for a new manager, Flick was keen to keep himself in the frame, and he has been learning Spanish.

But a month ago, there was disappointment for him, delivered in typically chaotic Barcelona style.

On April 24, Barca got in touch with Flick’s representatives. They wanted to inform him that Xavi was likely to leave and that Flick was well-positioned to step in. Later that same day, after late-night talks at Laporta’s city-centre apartment, it was decided that Xavi would stay on.

When Flick was told that the situation had changed, a club source involved in the process said his camp “were not happy, to say the least”.

Es nuestro momento.
Flick es culer. pic.twitter.com/6UGVgiJgeA

— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona_es) May 29, 2024

In more recent talks, Flick assured Barcelona he would be understanding with the current financial situation. He also said that he believed the squad was ready to achieve and he did not impose unrealistic targets in terms of potential signings.

Given the circ*mstances behind Xavi’s departure, that has helped his candidacy in the eyes of Barca executives.

Was anyone else considered?

The biggest name in contention for the job alongside Flick was Rafael Marquez — another former Barca player who since 2022 has been in charge of Barcelona Atletic, the club’s reserve team that plays in Spain’s third tier.

He was Deco’s preferred choice. Marquez has done a good job over the last two seasons. For the second year in a row, Barca Atletic have reached the promotion play-offs for a place in the second division.

Marquez’s knowledge of the upcoming La Masia generation is valued by Deco, who believes trusting youngsters will be vital in the coming years. Laporta also appreciated that the Mexican was willing to start his managerial career at the club’s second team.

But Barca have finally opted for a more experienced profile in Flick. It will be interesting to see what Marquez does next, as the 45-year-old’s contract runs out in June.

Tuchel was also available this summer but Barca sources said he was considered too volatile to manage the club during this tough period. They also monitored Roberto De Zerbi but Brighton’s second half of the season left Laporta, who personally followed several of their games, unimpressed.

What can Barca fans expect from Flick?

By Mark Carey and Thom Harris

Flick’s reputation was arguably at its highest during his time at Bayern, where he joined initially as an assistant in July 2019 before replacing Nico Kovac four months later. By the end of that pandemic-affected 2019-20 season, Bayern had won a continental treble for just the second time, beating Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League final. Flick followed up that historic campaign with another Bundesliga title, in his only full term.

Looking at Bayern’s 2020-21 playstyle wheel, which outlines how a team look to play compared with Europe’s top seven domestic leagues, Flick built abulldozing side likely to flatten anyone who dared to stop them. A tally of 99 goals in the Bundesliga was their second-highest return since the turn of the century, behind only the previous season’s 100 goals.

Across Europe’s top seven leagues, only Ajax of the Netherlands averaged higher than Bayern’s two non-penalty expected goals (xG) per 90 minutes (‘Chance creation’, 98 out of 99), with Flick’s side likely to suffocate the opposition with territorial dominance (‘Field tilt’, 95 out of 99).

Operating from a 4-2-3-1 formation when in possession, Flick would often ask his full-backs, Alphonso Davies and Benjamin Pavard, to stay high and wide to deliver crosses to a dominant Lewandowski — supported by the width and trickery of Serge Gnabry, Kingsley Coman and Leroy Sane (illustrated by their below-average ‘Central progression’ figure of 45 out of 99).

Bayern’s 24.4 crosses per 90 minutes that season were the highest of any Bundesliga side, underpinning their focus on width and delivery into the box. Crossing has been an increasingly accepted action at Barcelona in recent years — Xavi has allowed more attacks to come from wide areas, using the pace of Raphinha and the prodigious talent of Lamine Yamal.

And what can Flick expect from Barca?

We’ve already touched on Barca’s difficult finances. The bottom line is La Liga rules mean they must fill a €130million (£110m; $141m) hole in their accounts for this season by the end of June if they are to bring in any new players this summer — even on free transfers or loans.

Then there is the particular challenge posed by the Barcelona ‘entorno’ — the term coined by Johan Cruyff to describe the noise that is constantly generated around the club, by the media, the fans, the politics of its executive board, or other major figures across the city and wider Catalonia region.

That has played a big part in arguably every Barca manager’s end, even Pep Guardiola. It’s also a big part of why Xavi said it was a “cruel job”.

Speaking after taking charge for a final time in Sunday’s 2-1 La Liga victory at Sevilla, Xavi had more to say on the subject.

“Everything I said at the club caused a huge stir and has been used against me,” he said. “I’ve been targeted from inside and outside the club. There have been bigger expectations with me because I was part of the best Barcelona ever, and that played against our project.

“I would tell my successor that he will suffer. This is a tough job.”

One immediate challenge Flick might encounter is related to language.

One of the biggest concerns Barcelona’s board had with Flick’s candidacy was whether he could communicate effectively in Spanish or English, the two main languages used in Barca’s dressing room. It was their understanding that he was fluent only in German.

It remains to be seen if Flick has used the last months to improve his language skills, or if he looks for new additions in his backroom staff to ease his communication with the team.

What’s the reaction been like in the dressing room?

It has been a turbulent couple of weeks at Barcelona, and the mood inside the dressing room has been more focused on following Xavi’s situation than thinking about their fit with Flick, but Lewandowski, Ter Stegen and Gundogan will have some idea of what to expect.

Lewandowski was substituted in Barca’s final five games of the season by Xavi — and the manager and the coaching staff had been pushing for the 34-year-old to be sold. A departure was unlikely, but Flick’s arrival leaves him in a very safe place now. Lewandowski was a central figure of Flick’s treble-winning side at Bayern.

Ter Stegen and Gundogan played for Flick during his time in charge of the German national team, but they did not enjoy much success. Flick won only 12 of his 25 games as Germany boss, and his era was defined by elimination from the group stage at the 2022 World Cup. He was sacked less than a year later.

How come it’s a two-year contract?

Barcelona initially offered a one-year contract, with an option to extend to a second season if certain targets were met. The club’s consensus is that more options might be available next summer — Luis Enrique, Guardiola and Mikel Arteta are among the high-profile managers who reach the end of their contracts in June 2025.

During negotiations, though, Flick’s entourage fought for a more stable position and negotiated their way into a two-year guaranteed contract, which Barca accepted. His salary is expected to be around €6million (£5.1m; $6.5m) a year, plus generous bonuses linked to potential trophies.

On Tuesday, it emerged the decision to sack Xavi will cost Barca €6.5million. Xavi has written off his salary of around €11m for next season, but he will be reimbursed the €2.5m he paid out of his own pocket to leave his contract with Qatari side Al Shabab early to join Barcelona in 2021. Another €4m will be paid to Xavi’s outgoing backroom staff.

(Top photo: Bart Stoutjesdijk/ANP via Getty Images)

Pol joined The Athletic in 2021, initially moving to Manchester to assist us with our Manchester City, Manchester United and Spanish reporting. Since 2015 he has been an English football correspondent for multiple Spanish media, such as Diario Sport and RAC1 radio station. He has also worked for The Times. In 2019, he co-wrote the book Pep’s City: The Making of a Superteam. He will now move back to Spain, covering FC Barcelona for The Athletic. Follow Pol on Twitter @polballus