Barcelona confirm Saviola return as ex-forward joins coaching ranks

Barcelona have confirmed former player Javier Saviola will return to the club as the new assistant manager of their under-19 side.

The Argentine spent a six-year spell at Camp Nou – albeit with two terms on loan at Monaco and Sevilla – between 2001 and 2007, before moving to Real Madrid, where he became a LaLiga winner.

It is with the Blaugrana he is most fondly associated, however, and he follows another former Barca star, Rafael Marquez, through the door to join their coaching roster.

Saviola will be assistant to former team-mate Oscar Gomez at the helm of the Juvenil as they seek a fourth consecutive Division de Honor Group 3 title this term.

During his playing days, the forward – the then-youngest player named in Pele’s legendary FIFA 100 list – started out at River Plate, where he also finished his career in 2015 as a member of their Copa Libertadores-winning squad.

He played 39 times for Argentina and was a member of Marcelo Bielsa’s squad when they won Olympic gold in Athens in 2004.