Xavi will leave Barca at the end of the season after less than two years in the job
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Barcelona have reportedly identified Brighton head coach Roberto De Zerbi as their number one choice to succeed the departing Xavi.
Barca legend Xavi will step down as manager at the end of the season, leaving the Catalan giants needing to appoint a third new boss in the space of four years.
But if De Zerbi is the man the Blaugrana want, doing a deal with the Italian may be considerably easier said than done.
De Zerbi has won plenty of admirers during his 16 months in charge of Brighton so far (Image credit: Getty Images)
According to AS, Barca president Joan Laporta and sporting director Deco are both keen to bring in De Zerbi – with talks already said to have taken place with the former Shakhtar Donetsk boss.
However, Brighton have set De Zerbi's exit clause at €10m (£8.5m), which could be an obstacle for financially embattled Barca.
The 2022/23 La Liga champions' problems in that department are all too well documented, and they have spent less than €50m (£42.7m) on transfers during the last two transfer windows – a tiny amount these days for a club of such elite stature.
Former Bayern Munich and Germany manager Hansi Flick is the current bookies' favourite for the Barcelona job (Image credit: Getty Images)
Meanwhile, De Zerbi has admitted to being delighted by talk of interest from the biggest clubs. He told Sky Sports:
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"When I hear that the big teams are interested in me, it's an honour. It makes me proud, but my focus is on my work, day by day.
"About my future, I speak with the [Brighton] owners and the club because I want to compete in the best way that I can. I want to understand the plan, and then it's not a problem to work at a big team or at another big team."
Appointed to succeed Graham Potter in September 2022, De Zerbi guided Brighton to a sixth-placed Premier League finish last term – the highest in the club's history, securing them European qualification for the first time ever.
Tom Hancock started freelancing for FourFourTwo in April 2019 and has also written for the Premier League and Opta Analyst, among others. He supports Wycombe Wanderers and has a soft spot for Wealdstone. A self-confessed statto, he has been known to watch football with a spreadsheet (or several) open...
