Ernesto Valverde: Meet The Man Set To Replace Luis Enrique As Barcelona’s New Manager

Barcelona will on Monday aounce former Athletic Bilbao boss Ernesto Valverde as the club’s new manager.

The Catalan club has a scheduled a board meeting for Monday afternoon before President Josep Maria Bartomeu will speak to the media.

Ernesto Valverde has been the reported front-ruer for the job for some time and it looked very certain to get the job after he stepped down as Athletic Bilbao boss last week following a four-year stint in charge.

He led Athletic Bilbao to seventh place in La Liga this season, while Barcelona finished second behind Real Madrid.

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The former Barcelona forward will replace Luis Enrique, who revealed in March that he would leave the club at the end of his three-year contract. Barcelona gave Enrique a wiing send-off as they beat Alaves 3-1 to win the Copa del Rey on Saturday.

The appointment of the Valverde will follow Barca’s recent fashion of hiring former players.

The 53-year-old spent two seasons at Barcelona as a player from 1988-1990, scoring eight goals in 22 matches. He won the Cup Wiers’ Cup and Copa del Rey in his time at the club.

The majority of his playing career was, however, spent at Athletic Bilbao, where he made 170 appearances, scoring 44 goals. He has also spent the majority of his coaching career with the Basque club having taken charge of them in two spells.

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Valverde has also managed Espanyol, Villarreal, Valencia, and Olympiakos. He’s main success came with the Greek Giants who he led to three league titles and two cups.

Ernesto Valverde will face a huge challenge of masterminding the dethroning of Real Madrid. Los Blancos won the La Liga title earlier this month and are in the Champions League final against Juventus where they will be aiming to win the competition for the 12th time.