Barcelona Director of Football Deco has addressed rumors of Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp potentially replacing Xavi Hernandez at the club next season. Both Barca and Liverpool managers will leave their respective clubs at the end of the season.
Jurgen Klopp shocked the footballing fraternity with the announcement of his decision to leave Liverpool at the end of the season last month. The German has been in charge of the Merseyside giants for nine years now.
However, the former Borussia Dortmund manager cited that he is running out of energy wants to move away from management. Soon after Klopp’s announcement, Xavi Hernandez also announced his decision to step down from the Barcelona hot seat at the end of the current season.
Klopp has been touted as a possible replacement for Xavi at Camp Nou. However, Deco has remained coy while reacting to the rumor while labelling Klopp as a top manager. He said, as quoted by Fabrizio Romano:
“Klopp is a top coach, but I don’t think this is the moment to speak about it. We have many options; the future head coach will be discussed later.”
Chances of Klopp joining Barcelona in the summer look quite remote given the German’s insistence that he is most likely to take a sabbatical. However, he did cut his sabbatical short in the past in 2015 to join Liverpool after just four months of leaving Borussia Dortmund.
Xavi’s Barcelona side have been underwhelming this season finding themselves third in La Liga eight points behind league leaders Real Madrid. Klopp’s final season is however going pretty well as his side are top of the Premier League table but suffered a 3-1 defeat at Arsenal on Sunday, February 4.
Liverpool identify two Barcelona players as possible replacements of Mohamed Salah – Report
Liverpool have reportedly identified Barcelona duo Raphinha and Ansu Fati as potential replacements for Mohamed Salah. As reported by Teamtalk, Salah has been the subject of interest from Saudi Arabia of late and a big move could be on the cards in the summer.
Amid fears of Salah potentially leaving the club, the Merseyside giants have allegedly started looking for replacements. And, they have reportedly identified Barca duo Raphinha and Ansu Fati as two candidates.
Raphinha, who was formerly in the Premier League with Leeds United, has been pretty average for the Blaugrana since joining in a reported €58 million deal in 2022. The Brazil international has contributed with just 14 goals and 19 assists across competitions in 70 appearances till date.
Fati, meanwhile, is currently on loan at Brighton & Hove Albion where he has bagged four goals and one assist in 15 games. Once touted as a superstar in the making, he has not quite been able to live up to his promise yet but is still just 21 years of age.
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