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What’s the story?
With Luis Enrique bowing out with his ninth trophy in three years, Barcelona have had to ponder the biggest problem they’ve faced in a while – the question of who can return Barcelona to its roots. They’ve plumped for Ernesto Valverde to take the helm as head coach of FC Barcelona and have signed him on a 2-year deal.
In case you didn’t know
Ernesto Valverde Tejedor, born 9th Feb 1964, had a fairly decent playing career that saw him play as a forward for Alaves, Sestao, Espanyol, Barcelona (22 apps) and Mallorca, although it was with Athletic Bilbao (170 apps) that he enjoyed his greatest success.
He started off a much more successful managing career in the youth teams of Athletic Bilbao, managing them for six years (as well as a year in between having a stint as assistant manager to the senior side). In his first season as manager of the Athletic senior team he managed them to fifth and a place in the UEFA Cup. After this, he had coaching stints at Espanyol, Olympiacos (two stints), Villarreal and Valencia before returning to where it all started, Club Athletic Bilbao.
The heart of the matter
Here are the honours he has won as a player, all for Barcelona – UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup; Copa del Rey (1989-90). As a manager, his successes are more widespread – guiding Espanyol to runner-up spot in the UEFA Cup (2006-07), Olympiacos to three Superleague Greece crown (08-09, 10-11, 11-12) and two Greek Football Cups (08-09, 11-12) as well as Athletic to the Supercopa de Espana in 2015.
Here’s how his statistics line up as a manager –
| Team | Years | GP | Win | Draw | Loss | Win % |
| Bilbao Athletic (youth) | 2002-03 | 44 | 22 | 10 | 12 | 50% |
| Athletic Bilbao | 2003-05 | 93 | 38 | 23 | 32 | 41% |
| Espanyol | 2006-08 | 99 | 39 | 28 | 32 | 39% |
| Olympiacos | 2008-09 | 47 | 32 | 6 | 9 | 68% |
| Villarreal | 2009-10 | 32 | 13 | 7 | 12 | 40% |
| Olympiacos | 2010-12 | 80 | 60 | 7 | 13 | 75% |
| Valencia | 2012-13 | 31 | 17 | 7 | 7 | 55% |
| Athletic Bilbao | 2013-17 | 212 | 102 | 45 | 65 | 58% |
Not too shabby!
Video
Check out how Valverde’s Basques press opponents all over the place! Barcelona’s players should ready themselves for some intense training
Author’s take
Valverde is well-versed in Barcelona’s philosophy and incessant need to stick to their idealogy of passing-pressing-passing. His sides generally tend to stick true to this principle, and he has worked wonders with the limited resources he’s had available at Bilbao – the Basques play a refreshingly attack-minded style that will appeal to the Camp Nou faithful.
He could just be then right person for one of the toughest jobs in world football.
