Hansi Flick is primed to take over as Barcelona’s next manager, succeeding Xavi Hernandez, whose departure will become official after Sunday’s match against Sevilla at the Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan. The 59-year-old will be re-united with Ilkay Gundogan, whom he managed at Germany, and Robert Lewandowski, at Bayern Munich.
🚨 Xavi wanted the club to get rid of Lewandowski next season. He also didn't count on Vitor Roque, João Félix, Marcos Alonso and Oriol Romeu. @GolagolE3
— barcacentre (@barcacentre) May 26, 2024
Earlier this week, it was reported that Gundogan was asked by Barcelona about Flick, although MD have now relayed information from the German midfielder that this was not the case. The report states that Gundogan has not conveyed any opinion about Flick to anyone at Barcelona, and that if someone had asked him to do so, he would not have done it out of respect for Xavi.
Gundogan was one of the first Barcelona players to publicly pay tribute to Xavi after his departure was announced on Friday. He clearly has a lot of respect for his soon-to-be former manager, although there will surely be a degree of excitement to work with a familiar face in Flick.
