Argentine Martino is new Barca boss
Gerardo Martino’s successful stints as a coach with Paraguay and Argentina—AP
Argentine coach Gerardo Martino has been named as Barcelona’s new boss on a two-year deal, the club confirmed on Tuesday.
“FC Barcelona have reached an agreement for the hiring of Gerardo Martino as the new coach of the first team for the next two seasons,” said a statement on the club’s website. “In the next few hours a programme will be confirmed for his arrival in Barcelona, the signing of his contract and his presentation.”
Martino is not expected to take charge when Barca face their old manager Pep Guardiola in their first pre-season friendly away to Bayern Munich on Wednesday.
The 50-year-old arrives after successful period in charge of Newell’s Old Boys in his homeland but has just over three weeks to get used to his new surroundings before the start of the Spanish league season on August 17.
Barca were suddenly forced into looking for a new boss just last week when Tito Vilanova sadly had to resign due to an ongoing battle with cancer. Martino has no previous managerial experience in Europe, although he did enjoy a brief spell in Spain with Tenerife as a player in 1991.
However, it is his great success as a coach in both Paraguay and Argentina that has convinced the Catalans that he is the right man for the job.
Martino won four titles in Paraguay with Libertad and Cerro Porteno between 2002 and 2006 before going onto take charge of the country’s national team.
He led the South Americans to their best ever performance in a World Cup in 2010.
Paraguay also reached the Copa America final in 2011 under Martino’s guidance, before he left to take charge of Newell’s, for whom he made more than 500 appearances as a player in three spells.
Martino restored the Rosario side, where a young Lionel Messi also took his first steps in the game, to their former glory this season as they won the season-ending championship in Argentina and also reached the semi-finals of the Copa Libertadores.
The appointment will certainly be met with approval by Messi, whose father Jorge Horacio is said to have idolised Martino during his time as a player at Newell’s.
“I like Gerardo Martino. He is a great coach,” Messi said last year. “He gets his teams playing well and we all respect him.”
Post new comment