Ernesto Valverde left Barcelona’s training ground in his BMW on Monday afternoon, with a smile and a wave for the gathered photographers. He looked happier than at any point since he arrived at Barcelona, in the summer of 2017.
Thrown in at the deep end with Neymar immediately leaving, two league titles later this was it; his escape from the madhouse, his agent working deep into the night to settle his compensation package and complete his severance from what may be the worst-run elite football club in the world.
Valverde’s painfully protracted goodbye is the newest shambles for a club drowning in them in recent years under president Josep Maria Bartomeu. Their open pursuit of Xavi Hernandez and then Ronald Koeman with Ernesto Valverde still at the helm was embarrassing for the club and for the coach himself, left in an untenable position.
He took charge of training on Monday knowing his time was up, but Barcelona still didn’t have a replacement lined up.
Quique Setien, Gabriel Milito and Mauricio Pochettino were on the final shortlist, which told a story in itself. Barcelona were floundering, even considering appointing a man who said he’d rather work as a farmer than coach them. That was Pochettino, a professed Espanyol fan, who has been vehement about his unwillingness to sit on the Camp Nou bench.
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Setien, who eventually got the nod, has no titles to his name, last finishing 10th with Real Betis in La Liga, where he upset the fans.
The media were briefed that the club would make a statement at 2100 CET on Monday night, but it didn’t emerge until close to 2330, confirming Valverde’s exit, dragged out until the very end.
When Bartomeu and sporting director Eric Abidal showed up on Tuesday in the club’s auditorium to explain themselves they struggled to tell a coherent tale.
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“We’ve been speaking to different coaches, including Setien, for weeks,” said Bartomeu. The former Betis coach himself implied that wasn’t strictly the case.
“Yesterday I was walking with the cows in my village, today I’m coaching the best players in the world,” said Setien. “I didn't take five minutes to accept the offer.”
Setien admitted it was strange to be taking over a team currently in first place in La Liga. Indeed, the timing of Valverde’s departure is another black mark for Bartomeu and his board.
A few would have ousted the coach after the Champions League capitulation against Roma in 2018, at the end of the season. Far more saw last summer as the time for Valverde to depart, after another collapse in Europe against Liverpool at Anfield, one of the darkest nights in Barcelona’s history.
Performances last season had already dipped but Bartomeu, who was Valverde’s main backer, renewed the coach’s contract in February, a couple of months before the Barcelona’s nightmare on Merseyside.
There is nothing Barcelona know now that they didn’t know in the summer, and with the team qualified top of their Champions League group, first in La Liga and ready to kick off their Copa del Rey campaign, they could well end up with egg on their face if Setien doesn’t hit the ground running.
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Even Setien’s contract length – until 2022 – caused grumbles, until Bartomeu confirmed that the club’s next president has the option to release the coach in 2021 after elections.
Some observers are seeing this switch in coaches as a bid by the current board to boost board member Emili Rousad’s hope of becoming the next president after Bartomeu, who must step down having completed his second term. But this board has been involved in so many farces over the past few years that Barcelona have hugely fallen from grace, making a mockery of their Mes Que un Club slogan.
The Neymar signing from the word go was a whirlwind which shook up the club in all the wrong ways. Former Barcelona president Sandro Rosell, whom Bartomeu replaced, was jailed for two years after being accused of money laundering, while Bartomeu himself was even accused of fraud last year by a Spanish prosecutor, denying the charges.
They then contrived to let Neymar escape, humiliatingly robbed of the player by Paris Saint Germain, and splashing the €222 million windfall on busted flushes Philippe Coutinho and Ousmane Dembele. Bringing in players like Douglas and Kevin-Prince Boateng – whose agent is the same as Setien’s – spooned further humiliation on the club.
Perhaps their greatest crime, in a non-legal sense, has been the loss of identity. Under Johan Cruyff and then his disciple Pep Guardiola, Barcelona became known for their possession football and style. That has bled away under Tata Martino, Luis Enrique and finally Valverde, leading to this situation. Setien may be the man to restore it, at least that’s what Bartomeu, Abidal and co. are desperately hoping.
“I didn't think Barca could go for me, I have no honours, I don't have a great CV,” said Setien. “I have this philosophy of play that I love and my teams play well. I didn't know if it was enough, but I am tremendously grateful.”
Pep’s iconic team featured a multitude of La Masia talents but few have made it in the years since. Sergi Roberto exploded under Luis Enrique and Valverde used Ansu Fati this season, but the likes of Carles Alena and Dani Olmo have been loaned or escaped permanently.
Lower down their youth football ranks are a mess, with little joined-up thinking and communication between age groups. One club contact may tell parents and representatives one thing, only for another to contradict it. Parents aren’t receiving progress reports on players and many young talents want to flee.
Barcelona upset West Bromwich Albion by not paying the apparent compensation due for Louie Barry, who lasted six months at the club, barely playing – in a category above his age – before agreeing to sell him to Aston Villa.
In 2017 they sacked director Pere Gratacos for daring to suggest Messi wouldn’t be as good without Andres Iniesta and Neymar supporting him. Another director furiously – and egotistically – called up the offices of national newspaper Diario Sport to complain about a tweet on their English language feed, jokingly asking followers if they trusted the board to pick the right replacement for Luis Enrique.
In 2015 Barcelona signed youth player Sergi Guardiola and then sacked him a few hours later, after some of his previous anti-Catalan tweets were unearthed.
Victor Valdes was appointed as coach of the Juvenil A youth side, clashed with academy director Patrick Kluivert and was sacked 80 days later.
Carles Puyol, Jordi Cruyff and now Xavi turned the club down for various roles, unwilling to work there with the current board in place.
The quality and star power of Messi has worked wonders for Barcelona since Guardiola left, because beyond the Argentina legend, it’s all a bit of a mess and the more you dig the dirtier it gets.
On Monday, Barcelona were crowned kings of the Deloitte Money League for the very first time, with revenues topping €800m. At the same time, they were struggling to sack their coach. That contrast gets to the heart of the dysfunction at one of Catalunya's best-known institutions.
Good luck, Quique, you’re going to need it.