Laporta wanted Andrea Pirlo for Barcelona job ahead of Xavi

Barcelona president Joan Laporta was set to appoint Andrea Pirlo as the club’s manager following Ronald Koeman’s sacking, before former players advised him to look towards Xavi instead.

Xavi took the vacant manager’s job in November 2021, leaving his post at Qatari outfit Al-Sadd for the role, and replacing Koeman who had been dismissed in the weeks prior.

Since then, the former club captain has orchestrated a change of fortunes at Barcelona, making use of younger players and integrating them with expensive new signings to desperately try and drag them back up the footballing ladder.

Having taken charge of the club while they were ninth in the La Liga table, Xavi managed to steady the ship and steer them to a second place finish. It’s been up and down so far this season, but the picture could’ve looked entirely different at Camp Nou had Laporta got his way.

According to Sport, Laporta was convinced that Pirlo – who had been sacked from Juventus after his first full season in management – could be the man to re-establish the club, in a similar way that Frank Rijkaard managed to do so before Pep Guardiola took charge in 2008.

Before making the appointment, the president sat down with four Barcelona captains and three more players of ‘specific weight’ to inform them of the plan to sack Koeman and appoint Pirlo. But after noticing the lack of enthusiasm for his idea and taking into account the doubts expressed by those players, Laporta instead took their advice and pursued Xavi.

The report further states that the players were worried that Pirlo, an inexperienced manager, would’ve been unable to instil such radical change around the club.

Pirlo returned to management this summer, taking charge of Turkish Super Lig side Fatih Karagumruk.