Why Barcelona and Jorge Sampaoli could be the perfect fit

Take a sharp left out of the Ricard Maxenchs press room in the bowels of the Camp Nou and walk another ten paces forward and there it is in all its life-size glory: the image of Ronald Koeman and team-mates celebrating the 1992 European Cup final win.

As reporters filed away from Luis Enrique’s press conference on Wednesday night, the one in which he had revealed he would not remain as the club’s manager into next season, they all passed the blond mop of hair and the huge grin of a man who had just scored the biggest goal in his club’s history; His red and blue shirt above his suitably-Dutch orange shorts, a Barça scarf around his neck, and Pep Guardiola two along in the jubilant team photo.

It will be 25 years this summer since that momentous day, and what better way to celebrate than by giving Koeman the vacant manager’s job? The man whose free-kick gave Barça its first European Cup success becoming head coach a quarter-of-a-century later – on such stories do clubs claim to be more than just clubs.

Nostalgia however will not be picking the new manager; more likely Messi will, and that currently means Jorge Sampaoli is out in front, just ahead of Ernesto Valverde.

Valverde was the name at the top of the list when the season started.

Barcelona’s president Josep Bartomeu would never pretend to be a football genius. His sporting passion is basketball; his family business, mechanical walkways. He’s a sensible businessman who knows you can’t be seen to stand still (unless you’re stood on the right), so back last summer when Luis Enrique made it known in a meeting with club officials in pre-season that he did not feel committed enough to sign a new deal, Bartomeu would have put the wheels in motion.

It was clear then that Enrique would probably never sign an extension to his existing contract and would therefore leave the club in June 2017.

And Valverde eased clear of the field.

He is in the last year of his Athletic Bilbao contract and has not signed an extension, meaning he will cost Barcelona nothing. It’s an open secret that he has been on standby for some time now. He is a safe pair of hands, he knows the club.

There are images of him around the Camp Nou too, although they are harder to find. He scored eight goals in 22 games from 1988 to 1990. He was in the same squad as Gary Lineker, Txiki Begiristain and Luis Enrique’s current number two Carlos Unzue – who may stay at the club if Valverde is the chosen one.

What no-one back at the start of the season envisaged is that Sampaoli would have quite such an impact in his first season in European football. He had won the Copa America with Chile and turned down the Argentina job in the summer – remaining loyal to Sevilla who he had just signed with – but he was inheriting a squad weakened by the sale of its top-scorer Kevin Gameiro.

Good things were expected, but not great things.

Sevilla subsequently recorded their best first half of a domestic season in the club’s history and if they overcome Leicester at the King Power Stadium they will be in their first Champions League quarter-final. The football is fast and furious, with a Guardiola-esque obsession with possession and pressing. It’s little wonder Sampaoli has jumped the queue and is now standing shoulder to shoulder with Valverde.

The club will need to decide whether they stick with plan A or move on to plan B. They would be fools not to ask Leo Messi which decision would be more likely to make him sign a new contract this spring – avoiding the possibility of him entering the final season of his current deal and being able to negotiate a free transfer away from the club.

If Messi says he wants it to be Sampaoli, it will be Sampaoli. Regardless of whether Messi intervenes or not, if Sampaoli keeps Sevilla in the title race until the last weekend of the season (perhaps having beaten Real Madrid in the penultimate game to fatally wound their bid) then it will be Sampaoli. And if it isn’t Sampaoli then it will go back to being Valverde.

It will probably not be Koeman. But his image just around the corner from the press room will not be going anywhere any time soon. A season or two of success at Everton and when Sampaoli/Valverde moves on he will be poised once more.

As Enrique and previously Guardiola are testament to – this job can’t be done long term, not matter how successful you are.