Barcelona Sack Ernesto Valverde

Barcelona have confirmed the sacking of coach Ernesto Valverde following their elimination in the Spanish Supercopa last week.

A change had been on the cards since Barca CEO Oscar Grau and sporting director Eric Abidal travelled to Qatar for talks with Xavi on Friday, in the aftermath of the club’s 3-2 Supercopa defeat to Atletico in Saudi Arabia the previous day.

And even though no agreement could be reached for the club’s former midfielder to take over, the 39-year-old expressed an interest in moving in the summer.

Barca were then keen to find an option for the remainder of the season and considered both Ronald Koeman and Mauricio Pochettino, but finally signed Setien on a two-and-half year deal, bringing to end Valverde’s tenure of exactly that amount of time.

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Valverde was appointed in the summer of 2017 and won back-to-back LaLiga titles, but had been under scrutiny following Champions League collapses against Roma in his first season and Liverpool last term.