jürgen Klopp leaves Liverpool. Xavi leaves Barcelona. Thomas Tuchel may be under pressure at Bayern Munich. Extremely speculative stories in Spain about Mikel Arteta contemplating his future at Arsenal. There are decades when nothing happens and weeks when decades happen: this summer there could be a truly spectacular coaching merry-go-round with Roberto De Zerbi, Thiago Motta, Unai Emery, Hansi Flick and Rúben Amorim all in the mix.
Klopp and Xavi's situations are different, although both have won a league title. Klopp will have been in the job for almost nine years when he leaves and in that time he has He transformed Liverpool into one of the best teams in Europe. For him, that count of titles of one is misleading because it does not reflect the level of the opponent he has faced, the almost impossibility of facing Manchester City with Pep Guardiola. With inferior financial resources, he has been consistently competitive and that in itself is enough to make him one of the top three managers in the club's history.
Xavi will only have been at Barcelona for three years. It's not entirely fair to say that his only league title reflects what happens if you are the coach of one of Spain's big two when the other has a bad year, and he deserves credit for forging a team in the midst of the crisis. chaos and adversity of last seasonBut no one will hail him as one of Barcelona's greats either.
But what they both show is the toll the job can take, especially for managers who come to genuinely love the clubs they are in charge. “The feeling of being Barcelona coach is unpleasant and cruel” xavi said when announcing his decision. Guardiola He also felt it at Barcelona in his fourth season.: The eternal pressure, the constant scrutiny, the need to constantly be on top of everything, can be exhausting.
And yet, it is a drug. Surely it is not for financial reasons that so many managers find it so difficult to simply sit back and let the game continue without them. There's a reason why Roy Hodgson is still managing the Premier League at 76, why Dean Smith jumped into the Norwich job just days after being sacked by Aston Villa, why Bill Shankly found himself regretting his decision to leave Anfield in 1974.
There is no danger that Klopp, in his year off, will suddenly find himself forgotten. He will continue to be in demand no matter how long he spends out of the game. But, equally, let's say Germany had a terrible Euros at home this summer and Julian Nagelsmann leaves: could Klopp really resist a call from the DFB if it arrived in July?
Xavi's case is different. What Klopp has done means he will be at the top of any club's shortlist, but the former midfielder will find it considerably more difficult. Perhaps a spectacular victory over a fading Napoli in the Champions League last 16 next month will redeem him, but his record in Europe is poor and he too often seems horrified that other teams have the temerity to defend against his Barça . How dare they stop their team from playing the right way? It is an attitude that hints at a broader doubt: that he could be a cargo-cult coach, capable of repeating the sayings of Guardiola's philosophy without fully understanding how to instil or adapt them.
Barcelona has always been an unusual club when it comes to appointments, with a philosophy at least as important as the achievements. That's why they gave the job to Frank Rijkaard in 2003, when, after leading Sparta Rotterdam to their first-ever relegation, he was running a lingerie company and considering an offer from the Netherlands Antilles. That's why they appointed Guardiola after just one season at the helm of the B team and why they gave the job to Xavi when his only experience coaching him was in Qatar. And that is why the link with Arteta, although not proven, seems plausible. The Arsenal coach graduated from La Masia, Barcelona's famous academy, and served his apprenticeship with Guardiola. The question is why Arteta would want the job now when he has Arsenal on an upward trajectory while Barcelona to remain in such financial chaos and have such an unbalanced team.
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For Liverpool, Xabi Alonso has become one of the first favorites Which, given they have Bayer Leverkusen two points clear at the top of the Bundesliga, still unbeaten, is quite understandable. This is his second season as an absolute coach, but he has experience in the Real Madrid youth team and in the Real Sociedad reserve team. Alonso may be tempted to take a middle step with Bayern should Tuchel leave at the end of the season (as he almost certainly would if they fail to win the league) and Barcelona may overlook their past in the Real Madrid, but the attraction of returning to Liverpool would be strong.
The problem is that love comes with extra pressure.
