Just hours after Thomas Tuchel and Bayern Munich’s agreement to part ways in the summer was made public, the Catalan media have described frontrunner for the Barcelona job Hansi Flick as ‘not a priority’. The former Bayern and Germany coach has been touted as one of the two main options for Barcelona, but that no longer appears to be the case.
Brighton coach Roberto de Zerbi and Flick have so far been reported as the two top candidates to replace Xavi Hernandez, with the caveat that the Italian would require Barcelona to pay a hefty release clause of €10-15m in order to get him out of his current deal.
Now Sport say that Barcelona are not considering Flick as a priority, and that agent Pini Zahavi, recently hired by Flick, will have to convince President Joan Laporta and Sporting Director Deco that he is the right man for the job.
🚨 Hansi Flick is NOT Barça's priority as of today, but Barça are yet to define their definitive step. Agent Pini Zahavi has to convince the club that he's the right man for the job. @sport pic.twitter.com/f3vsW13hZV
— barcacentre (@barcacentre) February 21, 2024
Xabi Alonso has been widely named as Bayern’s top priority after Tuchel, but Flick’s name has been mentioned as a potential candidate for a return to the bench. Abendzeitung say that Flick is not particularly keen on a move back to Bayern, while he would be very happy to take over the Barcelona job this summer, which has been confirmed by Fabrizio Romano.
Whether this distancing from Flick is linked to Tuchel’s future is impossible to know, but it will certainly strike many as a convenient coincidence. Without many obvious and available candidates for the position, it would be no surprise to see either of the German coaches take to the dugout in Catalonia next season.
