For FC Barcelona, the club decided that the best way to move forward was through a change. Xavi Hernandez was no longer seen as the right man for the job, and Barça promptly parted ways with him. As his direct replacement, Barcelona have decided to ultimately place their bets on Hansi Flick.
A former coach for both Bayern Munich and the German National team, Flick will arrive at Barcelona with new ideas and elements that he will try to implement into the Barça system. Landing Flick may now seem like quite the straightforward arrival, but it was a much more complicated journey to this destination than it seems.
As per a recent report from SPORT, FC Barcelona essentially managed to win Flick’s interest over Bayern Munich. The Bavarian club reportedly wanted Flick’s signature and had hoped to see him return to Bayern for a potential second stint at the club. Ultimately, due to a few disagreements, his final direction ended up being towards Spain.
The first reported reason behind why Flick and Bayern did not see eye to eye was the fact that the the Bundesliga club did not instill enough confidence in terms of their decision to choose their former coach.
They were only willing to offer Hansi Flick a season-long contract proposal until 2025, after which they intended to pursue other heavy hitters such as Pep Guardiola, Jurgen Klopp, or Xabi Alonso.
FC Barcelona, on the other hand, have ended up providing him a deal worth two years of guaranteed continuity. This contract would be valid until 2026, and gives Flick both a sign of confidence from the Barcelona board and also more time to implement his stylistic values into the team.
Moreover, Bayern Munich’s hierarchy was divided internally about Flick’s possible appointment. Some of the club’s heads were in favor of seeing the sextuple-winning coach return to the club, while others were a bit more hesitant to make the same call and believed that Bayern needed a fresh face after their entire debacle with Thomas Tuchel.
Ultimately, Bayern have opted to go for former Burnley coach Vincent Kompany it seems. Barcelona, on the other hand, will be looking to build on something with Flick, a coach who has already seemingly done his research on the Catalan club and would be raring to start at his new home.
