Barcelona president insists Valverde will thrive

BARCELONA president Josep Maria Bartomeu believes new boss Ernesto Valverde has all the skills to succeed at the Nou Camp.

The 53-year-old has agreed a two-year deal to replace Luis Enrique at Barca after leaving Athletic Bilbao.

Valverde played for Barca for two years between 1988 and 1990 and Bartomeu expects Valverde to be able to handle managing the Catalan giants.

“I have spoken personally with Valverde and he is happy and excited about the challenge of coaching Barca,” he said.

“Valverde has the ability, the knowledge and the experience. He promotes players from the youth teams and he has a style and a way of working like ours.

“He has a philosophy of the game that is very Barca and he is a hard worker. Also, he is passionate about applying technology to both training and matches.”

Valverde won the Cup Winners’ Cup and Copa del Rey as a player at Barca, while he also played for Espanyol, Athletic and Real Mallorca, winning one senior cap for Spain.

Since retiring in 1997 he has managed Espanyol, Olympiacos Villarreal, Valencia and Bilbao.

His most successful period came in Greece, where he led Olympiacos to three domestic league titles and two cups in his two stays at the club, while he also guided Espanyol to the Uefa Cup final in 2007, losing on penalties to Sevilla.

After only managing to guide Valencia to a fifth-place finish in 2013, he took the reins at Athletic , where he finished fourth, seventh, fifth and seventh respectively in LaLiga, reached the Copa del Rey final and the quarter-finals of the Europa League.

Jim McIntyre