Former Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino is the latest manager to linked as a potential replacement for Ernesto Valverde at Barcelona.
The Catalan giants are reported to be strongly considering sacking Valverde in the near future, on the back of their Spanish Supercopa semi final defeat to Atletico Madrid in Saudi Arabia.
The defending La Liga champions had been rumoured to be lining up a deal to bring former midfielder Xavi Hernandez back to the Camp Nou, however he has insisted he is committed to remaining with Qatari side Al-Sadd.
That has forced Barcelona to pursue other options if they look to remove Valverde, with reports on Spanish radio station RAC 1, reported in Mundo Deportivo, claiming that Pochettino is now the front runner.
According to the report, the Argentinian boss has the support of Barcelona club president Josep Bartomeu, who invited him to attend the Catalan derby with Espanyol earlier this season as his guest.
However it is those links with Espanyol, where he played between 1994 and 2001, and managed them between 2009 and 2012, are likely to be the main stumbling block to a deal.
Pochettino has previously joked that him joining Barcelona would be akin to Lionel Messi signing for Espanyol, however Bartomeu reportedly is willing to ignore those connections to get an agreement over line.
