Luis Enrique has announced that he will not be renewing his contract at the end of the season and so he will be leaving FC Barcelona. The announcement came after the Catalan giants smashed six past La Liga side Sporting Gijon on Wednesday night. Barca confirmed the news before Enrique faced the press following the game, easing the media tension around the story. A quiet and reserved Enrique stated, “I will not be coaching Barcelona next season, it’s a very difficult decision for me.”
Barcelona does not want their manager to leave and so gave Enrique all the time he needed to make the season. Given Barca’s performances in recent years it’s easy to see why they didn’t want their leader to leave. Since joining on an initial two year contract Enrique’s Barcelona have won a massive eight trophies, including the most prestigious competition in European club soccer, the Champions League. The Spanish coach had agreed a one year contract extension, keeping him in charge up to the end of this season but it appears this is where his reign will come to a fairly unexpected abrupt end.
Every soccer fan considers Barcelona to be one of the biggest sides in world soccer but what many don’t realize is that the Barca job is one with additional pressure not found in many other managerial positions. Barcelona is the center piece and capital of Catalonia, a region of Spain that for a fairly lengthy period of time has seemed independence from Spain. Therefore when it comes to soccer the manager of Barcelona is very much flying the flag for the region of Catalonia as well as the usual pressures that come with managing a massive club like Barca. Although it isn’t largely speculated I wouldn’t be surprised if Enrique feels under immense pressure due to the fact he guided the side to a treble winning season in his first year. Something that is near impossible to repeat year on year. Enrique has said “I’ll need a rest and that’s the main reason. I’d like to thank the club for the confidence they’ve shown in me over my time here.”
A weakness? In my opinion leaving a football club due to “needing a rest” is a pretty soft reason. A great coach will normally leave a side in order to advance their own career and to seek further challenges – much like Pep Guardiola and Jose Mourinho have been known to do. But leaving a club because of what could be labelled as a mental weakness is disappointing in my opinion. Although it hasn’t been largely speculated i think it could also be down to the fact that this year especially Barcelona have quite an unbalanced side. They’re undoubtedly one of the best sides going forwards with Neymar, Suarez and Messi making a simply crazy attack. But defensively they’re not what they used to be. Gerard Pique and Javier Mascherano are beginning to age and this for me is starting to develop into a defensive weakness. Ever since the retirement of Puyol the Barcelona defense just hasn’t been the same. They’ve got a promising young defender or two such as Samuel Umtiti but here and now the Barca defense isn’t a shadow of what it used to be. I would debate that as well as finding the stress too much, Luis Enrique will know that under the radar there is a fair amount of work that needs to be done to this Barca side.
it was only recently in the Champions League against PSG that this weakness was truly exposed when the front thee attackers weren’t able to steal the limelight as they so often can in La Liga. As it is, shut down Neymar, Suarez and Messi and you’ve got a fairly average side there. Now I’m not saying that Barca are going down the pan or need major reworking. Just that for the first time in a few years changes are desperately needed in my opinion and I believe that this may have contributed to Enrique’s decision.
