It’s been an oddly quiet few weeks at Barcelona after months of ‘will he, won’t he?’ speculation over Xavi Hernandez’s future as manager and Hansi Flick’s subsequent appointment.
The former Bayern Munich and Germany boss now has one of the biggest and most demanding jobs in football and, with Real Madrid only going from strength to strength in their recruitment, has his work cut out for him if the Catalan giants are to challenge for major honours next season, both domestically and in Europe.
But where on earth should Flick start to lift an iconic club back to its glorious heights of yesteryear? Here are the jobs he needs to get stuck into promptly as Barcelona‘s new manager.
Whether one manager can change a whole club’s love of chaos and havoc remains to be seen, but the off-field drama has undoubtedly been a massive Achilles heel for Barca in recent years.
President Joan Laporta loves spouting his opinion whenever prompted but it’s undeniable that he made life more difficult than necessary for Flick’s predecessor Xavi before finally giving the legendary midfielder the boot.
Flick was part of an efficient winning-machine at Bayern Munich and cannot allow someone who isn’t even part of the coaching staff dictate how he runs his football operations.
The injuries that have plagued Barca midfielder Pedri in recent years are the stuff of infamy and not mistakes the club can afford to make with some of their breakout stars going forward.
Lamine Yamal looks to be a generational talent but the Catalan giants have already showed a dodgy reliance on the teenage winger. He played 37 La Liga games last season and another ten in the Champions League and such overloading cannot be allowed to continue. He’s still a kid, after all.
Gavi will also return after an anterior cruciate ligament injury ended his 2023/24 campaign and Barca have to do a better job in looking after their stars of the future in the next couple of years to stop these career-affecting injuries occurring so regularly.
As one of Barca’s big earners, the future of Robert Lewandowski attracted significant media interest towards the end of the 2023/24 campaign.
The legendary Polish striker was often made out as a scapegoat for the club’s poor La Liga title defence but still ended the season as their top…
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