Profiling some of the best candidates to replace Xavi at Barcelona

Here at Flashscore we bring you some of the possible replacements. There will be dozens of offers, but Deco's parameters are very clear: first and foremost, he must have the so-called Barca DNA.

Candidates to replace Xavi

Rafa Marquez (Barcelona B)

This would be the simplest and cheapest option. And maybe even sporting. In lean financial times, the youth system has always been a solution for the Catalan club. This is already being seen with the crop of youngsters that continue to come out of La Masia with Gavi, Lamine Yamal, Fermin, Marc Guiu and Cubarsi.

It could also be the case of the coaches. The last to leave was a certain Pep Guardiola. Now, the Mexican, a great personal friend of Laporta and Deco, did not hesitate in putting himself forward as a candidate. "You can't say no to an opportunity like this," said the head of the reserve team.

Against him is his lack of experience in the dugout, just two years. That is why he is not the first choice to replace Xavi. But he is on the shortlist and that is something for him.

Thiago Motta (Bologna)

The Brazilian is highly regarded at the highest level. His eight years at Barca were a great apprenticeship in the philosophy required to coach the azulgrana team, which he has been applying in his different experiences in the dugouts.

He started out with the PSG youth team before making the leap to Italy. His first experience was very short, just two months at Genoa. In Spezia he more than fulfilled the objectives set and that was enough for him to take a leap and go to Bologna, where he has been for a year and a half. He has already been sounded out by several big clubs and now could be the time to take charge of Barcelona's new project.

García Pimienta (Las Palmas)

The current coach of the Canaries meets all the requirements for a future coach of the Blaugrana. All of them. He has been through all the youth ranks, both as a player and as a coach, even managing the reserve team.

And in his first experience in the elite he is doing it well with football and results above what was expected for a newly promoted team. With Las Palmas he was promoted to the first division last season and this season he is keeping them in the top flight without any apparent problems, closer to Europe than to the relegation zone. Moreover, he is getting the best out of the young players.

Xavi himself blessed him a few weeks ago: "Garci, that's what I call him, is a great coach. He has Barca DNA". His biggest problem is that Laporta sacked him from Barca B to bring in Rafa Marquez.

Míchel Sanchez (Girona)

The norm at Barca is to hire a coach who has been an outstanding player as a Barca player. Guardiola, Luis Enrique, Koeman, Xavi, Ernesto Valverde. Experiments with outsiders have not worked out well. There are the cases of Quique Setien and Tata Martino. That's where the reticence about the figure of the current Girona manager comes in.

But leaving that aside, and the fact that one of his sons plays for Real Madrid's youth team, Michel is another of the names that appear in Deco's portfolio. What he is doing with Girona, with spectacular football, and fighting for the league title, cannot go unnoticed by anyone. And even less so being so close to the Condal City.

Moreover, the integration that Michel has had and still has with Catalonia is highly valued. As soon as he signed for Girona he began to study Catalan, he responds to local journalists in that language and that is a factor that is highly valued by Laporta and his entourage.

The impossible: Klopp and Arteta

These are two names that would have been in everyone's betting pools in other circumstances. At the time, before choosing Liverpool, there was already talk of Jurgen Klopp as a candidate. His statements about the need to take a sabbatical year after his time at Liverpool ruled him out... but in football you can never say never.

The other impossible dream is that of Mikel Arteta. His two years as a youth player have always linked him to the club. His style as a player, moulded by Wenger, and his subsequent training as a coach under Guardiola have kept him in the spotlight. Unfortunately for the club, the project at Arsenal is too important to leave halfway through.