Barcelona President Joan Laporta opens up on decision to appoint Hansi Flick – ‘He gave us peace of mind’

Barcelona President Joan Laporta has discussed why Hansi Flick was appointed as new manager, having finally giving a public explanation of why Xavi Hernandez was dismissed.

Flick was announced last Tuesday on a two-year deal at the club, which will see him through the end of Laporta’s mandate if he makes it to the end of the contract. Laporta explained that an initial meeting with Flick gave them peace of mind about appointing him as the one to take over from Xavi.

“There have been moments in which the members have been proud of the club, like with the six leagues last year, the great attendance in Europe, the exodus to Paris… I didn’t want to ruin the moment, I thought of Flick as the father of a dynasty of German coaches that I could not sign at the time because he accepted the German national team.”

“Since Xavi said he was leaving, Hansi has been studying the squad and seeing how to use these players. When we decided that Xavi was not continuing, Deco and Bojan met with him. He is very excited, he is calm, responsible, mature… He gave us peace of mind that this is going to go well. I told him where I was coming, to a club that is more than a club, owned by its members, so that he understood our way of seeing life. He gives me a good feeling.”

Laporta also explained that they had discussed the fact that Flick has no prior experience at the club as a player of a manager. It will be just the third time in the last two decades that a Barcelona manager is appointed without having previously been at the club, following on from Quique Setien and Tata Martino.

“We talked about it with Hansi and I was satisfied with the level of knowledge he has about the club. He has a house in Formentera. Pini Zahavi has brought him up to date. He is a very good professional, his teams are very physically prepared, he won a sextet equaling ours, with a result against us that I do not want to remember…”

“The commitment to La Masia is unconditional and Flick has already opted for the base in Bayern and with Germany. He is going to meet Lamine, Balde, Gavi, Cubarsí, Fermín, Fort, Araujo, Pedri… He is going to work with young people with a lot of future. Reinforced by other players like Frenkie, Gündogan, Lewandowski…He is very motivated to get the most out of the team.”

Laporta: "The refereeing has not favored us. The campaign to harm with the Negreira case has done its job. I just want to remember what happened at the Bernabéu, the only camera that didn't work was the one that could determine whether it was a goal."

— barcacentre (@barcacentre) June 4, 2024

In terms of the objectives that Laporta and his board have set Flick, the Barcelona President made it clear that he felt the Blaugrana needed to move towards a more physically imposing squad, as he told Barca One.

“We ask Flick to win, that he puts out a more well-rounded team, he will be able to prepare the team physically, without giving up our style, but with more physical preparation to play with two touches and recover the ball quickly. I said that losing would have consequences and that is what has happened.”

“We have seen that from the 60th minute the team dropped in level, the game did not end the same, like the two games against Real Madrid, who came back in the last minutes. I’m not saying that they were not well prepared, but there are always things to improve and Flick will improve the physical preparation. To do this, he will be adapt to the structure of the club, a coach will come in and they are designing a plan.”

Many see it as a tough job for Flick, who will presumably be working without the resources of his competitors, yet will be asked to take down a Real Madrid side that has won the Liga and Champions League, comfortably in the first case, and is adding arguably the best striker in the world in Kylian Mbappe. In addition, Flick is unlikely to be given much time to to adjust to a new country, job and culture if results go badly at the start.