Quique Setien might have been the purists’ choice to succeed Ernesto Valverde at Barcelona, but he was some way down the club’s list of potential candidates.
Late on Monday night, the former Real Betis coach was appointed on a two-and-a-half year contract, which was exactly the length of time his predecessor had lasted at Camp Nou.
Valverde had departed after taking training earlier in the day, suspecting he was leaving for the last time but still not told of his fate.
In the meantime, Barca continued to plough through a list of possible new coaches.
Negotiations with Xavi out in Qatar at the weekend hit complications because although the former midfielder was tempted by his dream job, he did not want it yet. And perhaps not with this board, either.
Xavi has ties with Bartomeu's rival
Xavi has previously aligned himself to Victor Font, a presidential candidate in the 2021 elections and a man opposed to the current board, which the current Al Sadd coach has also criticised in the past.
The plan with Xavi was for further talks in the summer, but with Valverde’s credit evaporated and the search for a new coach now out in the open, Barca had no option but to continue looking for a new man.
Pochettino and the other candidates
Netherlands coach Ronald Koeman had been that man. The former Barca icon had agreed in principle to take over after Euro 2020, but was unwilling to leave his prestigious post at the drop of a hat because Bartomeu had changed his mind.
Former Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino then emerged as a top target and Barca made informal contact with the Argentine on Monday.
Pochettino, despite his Espanyol ties and claims in the past that he would never coach Barca, was interested in hearing what the club had to say. But time was of the essence and with the Blaugrana keen to tie up a deal for Valverde’s successor, he backed off.
Other names, like former Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri, were also linked.
Barca move for Setien
But late on Monday, the news filtered through that Barca had agreed a deal with Setien to take over and an announcement was scheduled for 9pm local time.
There was one problem, though: Valverde’s exit still had not been sorted. Negotiations with his lawyers continued late into the evening and that held up the news Barca fans everywhere had been waiting for ever since the talk with Xavi came to light on Friday.
Valverde departs with a win percentage of almost 67 per cent, having led Barca to back-to-back LaLiga titles. He also leaves the Catalan club on top of the table and lost just two Champions League games in two-and-a-half seasons.
Those defeats had been catastrophic, though, as Barca threw away big leads to Roma in 2017-18 and then against Liverpool last season to crash out of the competition in humiliating circumstances.
Barca lost their ethos under Valverde
And results aside, there was the sense that this was just not Barcelona any more. The style was insipid, the football uninspiring. Fans were fed up. It was Barca, but not as they knew it. Not how they loved it.
In that respect, Setien is ideal. The 61-year-old is a disciple of Johan Cruyff, a romantic whose brilliant Betis side won admirers all over Spain and beyond for their fabulous football.
Setien once said he would have given his “little finger to have played with Cruyff” and in a tweet following the Dutchman’s death in 2016, he wrote: “I felt that football could be played better, but I didn’t see it until Johan showed us.
Setien the Barca fan
He has a Messi shirt framed and hanging on his wall at home and asked Sergio Busquets to sign another after Betis beat Barca at Camp Nou in November 2018. “For Quique, with appreciation and admiration for the way you see football,” the midfielder wrote.
Now, he is their coach and surprisingly, he has signed a contract until 2022. However, clauses have been included in the deal which allow for it to be broken at the end of each season. Just in case Barca change their minds again.
Big challenge for Setien
If Setien seems a perfect fit stylistically, he may find it difficult to imprint his ideas quickly upon on ageing Barca squad – especially at a club where results will be expected immediately.
Defensively, there are also questions marks about his teams and in addition, he has never been in charge club of the stature of Barcelona, where coaching the players is just one of many skills needed for success.
The disenchantment with Valverde had led to disquiet and criticism of the Barca board and when that happens, a coaching change is never far away.
After that unseemly sacking, the team’s hopes now rest on Setien and everyone at Camp Nou knows he was not the club’s first choice. It is not an ideal start.
