Real Sociedad manager Imanol Alguacil was all but the architect of Barcelona’s downfall at Anoeta on Saturday, but he could have been the constructor behind their success.
Alguacil continues to spur La Real onto heights not seen in Donostia-San Sebastian since the 1980s, following four European qualifications in a row, and a Copa del Rey, they have now qualified for knockout stages in the Champions League, having returned for the first time in a decade.
According to Sport, Barcelona considered Alguacil as a candidate for the job at Camp Nou in 2021, during the summer where Joan Laporta searched for a replacement to Ronald Koeman. Alguacil had just won the Copa del Rey, and his style of play was winning admiring glances from all over Spain.
In November of that year, Koeman would be sacked and replaced by Xavi Hernandez, whom Laporta considered too green for the job at the time, but was drafted into a Barcelona in crisis.
Whether they would have been able to persuade him to leave is another question. Part of what makes Alguacil successful is his long-standing link to La Real and the academy at Zubieta. Many of the 15 first-team squad members that have come through at Zubieta have been coached by Alguacil previously. Initially, Alguacil did not plan on becoming a senior manager, and it remains to be seen if he would be attracted by managing another club.
