Barcelona have sacked manager Quique Setien in the wake of their humiliating 8-2 defeat to Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarter-finals.
The club fired Setien following a hastily-convened emergency meeting on Monday morning after suffering one of the darkest defeats of their 120-year history to cap a trophyless season.
Former Barcelona player and current Holland manager Ronald Koeman is poised to become the club’s new manager.
A statement on Barcelona’s official website read:
‘This is the first decision within a wider restructuring of the first team which will be agreed between the current technical secretary and the new coach, who will be announced in the coming days.’
Barcelona have also announced that elections for the presidency of the club will take place on the first match day from March 15 next year after they were brought forward.
Victor Font, a candidate to become president, would be in favor of appointing Xavi as manager. He previously said:
‘I’m in tune with Xavi about the project, and personally, I love talking to him about football, and I hope he can lead our footballing project.’
The club stated that they will oversee ‘profound changes’ to the first-team squad, while there will also be a ‘budgetary redefinition’ to cope with the financial impact of coronavirus.
They say March was the most convenient time to hold elections given that the season starts in September, with the formal announcement of the elections to take place in January.
The statement read:
‘The Club will continue to implement the shock plan to reverse the sporting and economic situation, based on profound changes in the first team, and a budgetary redefinition to deal with the new situation caused by the Covid-19, before the end of this mandate.’
Setien, the former Real Betis manager, was only appointed in January to replace Ernesto Valverde and ultimately took charge of just 25 games at Barcelona.
