Barcelona offer Xavi a chance to hire Guardiola’s former assistant as his no. 2

Things have been chaotic at Barcelona today, with several important meetings going ahead at the club regarding the coaching situation.

After trying to convince Xavi to stay for several weeks, it seems as if Barcelona have changed their approach today and asked the coach to make some changes to this coaching staff if he wants to continue as the manager.

Sporting director Deco asked Xavi to switch the the physical trainer of the team, but more importantly, replace his brother, Oscar Hernandez, as the assistant manager of the team.

Operation Domenec Torrent

And while Xavi has reportedly rejected both requests, the club have given him the chance to hire Pep Guardiola’s former assistant, Domenec Torrent, as his deputy at the club next season, as per a report by Gerard Romero.

Torrent served as the manager of Girona for a year before Pep asked him to become his no. 2 at Barcelona B in 2007 when he was coaching the Barcelona reserve side.

He moved to the senior side with Pep in 2008, and coached 247 games alongside the legendary Spanish manager before the duo took their adventures to Bayern Munich and eventually Manchester City.

After two years as the assistant manager of Man City, Torrent was offered the head coach gig at New York City FC, which promptly took up, but was sacked after 60 games in charge.

He has since coached Flamengo and Galatasary for ±three and six months, respectively, but has been out of a full-time job since mid-2022.

Barcelona weighing up German options

It seems unlikely that Xavi will give in to this demand to replace his brother with Domenec Torrent despite the Spaniard having Pep Guardiola’s nod.

As such, all signs point towards a change of manager by the end of the season, with the likes of Thomas Tuchel and Hansi Flick leading the charge for Barcelona.

At the same time, it has been reported that Deco has contacted three new names in Bournemouth’s Andoni Iraola, Feyenoord’s Arne Slot, and Austrian National Team’s Ralf Rangnick.