Barcelona President Joan Laporta has admitted that he is ‘friends’ with super-agents Jorge Mendes and Pini Zahavi, but has also told them to stop pitching him managers until they reach a conclusion to the Xavi Hernandez era.
Laporta seemed to hint that Xavi had not actually taken a decisive decision on his future, despite the fact he has publicly announced that he will leave at the end of the season. Understandably, speculation has been rife over the next coach. With Hansi Flick recently hiring Zahavi as his agent, many saw it as a move to take advantage of the Israeli agent’s relationship with Laporta, and a potential avenue to the job.
Speaking to MD, Laporta responded with ‘What do you think?’ when he was asked whether Mendes and Zahavi have been pitching him coaches.
“Apart from great professionals, I am a friend of Pini and Jorge Mendes. They are the agents I know the most from my past. I have a very good relationship with them, but they know what I’ve been saying, ‘don’t insist with me because we will be with Xavi until the end.’ We will wait for Xavi’s decision and then we will see.”
Laporta: "I love Luis Enrique even though we haven't talked to anyone. Pini Zahavi does insist on Flick, but whoever wants to come will have to wait until the end. We're not going to do anything until Xavi makes the decision."
— barcacentre (@barcacentre) March 22, 2024
“If they don’t wait, then they don’t wait. We must continue our path and be consistent with this formula that we have adopted, which for the moment is working and I do not think it is due to luck but to the experience that Xavi has in these matters, who saw that this formula could be useful and good for the maturing process of this team.”
He continued on to give a general assessment of the state of play for the Blaugrana.
“We continue to deal with injuries. The other day four starters did not play: Frenkie, Pedri, Cancelo and Balde. And he has been replaced with players like Sergi Roberto, who has touch, Gundogan is sensational, Fermin is splendid at getting into the box and has goals. Robert is a professional and always gives us something. He was the first one who was upset about not performing as we did in the previous season but he has made an important effort. He is a man who takes great care of his physique and now scores or gives an assist in every game. I am not even talking about the defence, which is a unit now with Cubarsi, Araujo, Christensen as a pivot, Hector Fort, at 17 years old, who they tell me that it is already a player.”
Regarding Mendes, Porto coach Sergio Conceicao is one of his clients that has been suggested, while Zahavi has also worked as an intermediary for Bayern Munich’s Thomas Tuchel. Ronald Araujo’s agents have been seen in talks with Barcelona in recent weeks, but they represent Brighton coach Roberto de Zerbi too, another who has been linked with the job.
