Barcelona president explains decision to hire Hansi Flick as new manager

Barcelona president Joan Laporta sat down for a detailed interview on ‘Barça One’ earlier today during which he gave an insight into his decision to sack Xavi Hernandez from the managerial post.

In the same interview, Laporta explained his decision to appoint Hansi Flick as the new manager of the Blaugrana first team, while also discussing what the German brings to the table.

Flick ‘gave a good feeling’ says Laporta

As soon as it became clear that Barcelona would sack Xavi, Hansi Flick became the favourite to take over, given how Laporta rated him – something that the club president acknowledged in the interview.

“I thought of Flick as the father of a German coaching dynasty whom I couldn’t sign at the time because he accepted the German national team,” revealed Laporta.

Building on that, the Barcelona supremo revealed that Flick had been studying the club squad for months now and that they believe he is the best option for the team.

“Since Xavi said he was leaving, Hansi has been studying the squad and looking at how to use these players. When we decided that Xavi wasn’t going to continue, Deco and Bojan met with him. He is very excited, he is calm, responsible, mature,” he said.

Barcelona president Joan Laporta sat down for a detailed interview on ‘Barça One’ earlier today during which he gave an insight into his decision to sack Xavi Hernandez from the managerial post.

In the same interview, Laporta explained his decision to appoint Hansi Flick as the new manager of the Blaugrana first team, while also discussing what the German brings to the table.

Flick ‘gave a good feeling’ says Laporta

As soon as it became clear that Barcelona would sack Xavi, Hansi Flick became the favourite to take over, given how Laporta rated him – something that the club president acknowledged in the interview.

“I thought of Flick as the father of a German coaching dynasty whom I couldn’t sign at the time because he accepted the German national team,” revealed Laporta.

Building on that, the Barcelona supremo revealed that Flick had been studying the club squad for months now and that they believe he is the best option for the team.

“Since Xavi said he was leaving, Hansi has been studying the squad and looking at how to use these players. When we decided that Xavi wasn’t going to continue, Deco and Bojan met with him. He is very excited, he is calm, responsible, mature,” he said.

“He gave us peace of mind that this is going to go well. I told him where I was coming from, to a club that is more than a club, owned by the members, so that he would understand our way of seeing life. He gave me a good feeling.”

Further discussing how he was convinced Flick was the right candidate, Laporta added: “We talked it over with Hansi and I was satisfied with the degree of knowledge he has of the club. Pini Zahavi has brought him up to speed.

“He’s a very good professional, his teams are very physically prepared, he won a sextet matching ours, with a result against us that I don’t want to remember…”

Barcelona’s new manager. (Photo by Christof Koepsel/Getty Images)

Commitment to La Masia

Under Xavi, Barcelona unearthed a number of young talents from La Masia, who have become regulars in the first-team setup now. And, Laporta insisted that Flick will also continue to adhere to that policy, saying:

“The commitment to La Masia is unconditional and Flick already bet on the academy at Bayern and with Germany. He is going to meet Lamine, Balde, Gavi, Cubarsí, Fermín, Fort, Araujo, Pedri… He will be working with young players with a great future.

“Reinforced by other players like Frenkie, Gündogan, Lewandowski… He is very motivated to get the best out of the team.”

On being asked what he demands of Flick, Laporta replied: “We ask Flick to win, he takes a more experienced team, he will be able to prepare them 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’s what happened. We saw that in the 60th minute the team’s level dropped, they didn’t finish the game in the same way, like in the two games against Real Madrid, who came back in the last few minutes.

“I’m not saying they weren’t well prepared, but there are always things to improve and Flick will improve the physical preparation. To do this he will adapt to the club’s structure, a trainer will come in and they are designing it.”