Hansi Flick officially named Barcelona's new manager with former Bayern Munich boss replacing Xavi on a two-year contract

The German manager signed on the dotted line in the club offices of Barcelona on Wednesday to start a new era at the Catalan club. Flick will remain at the helm until 2026 after agreeing to a two-year contract following several rounds of discussions with sporting director Deco and club president Joan Laporta.

According to BBC Sport, Barcelona had initiated conversations with Flick "at least two months ago" and there had been an agreement in principle for quite some time. Hence, the timeline of events suggests that the Blaugrana were already in contact with Flick when they initially persuaded Xavi to continue at the club until 2025 in late April.

Barca have released an official statement confirming Flick's appointment, which reads: "FC Barcelona and Hansi Flick have reached an agreement for the German to become men’s first team football coach until 30 June 2026. The new coach has signed a contract at the Club’s offices accompanied by FC Barcelona president Joan Laporta; first vice president responsible for the sporting area, Rafa Yuste and the Club’s sporting director, Anderson Luís de Souza, Deco. By bringing Hansi Flick as coach, FC Barcelona have chosen a man well known for his teams’ high pressing, intense and daring style of play which has brought him great success at club level and international level, winning pretty much all there is to win in the world of football."

Flick won the treble with Bayern Munich in 2020 when he guided the Bavarian giants to the Bundesliga, DFB-Pokal and Champions League titles. However, his subsequent stint with the German national team failed to produce results and they were knocked out of the group stages of the 2022 World Cup.

Flick has been given the role of instilling a "new structure" at Barcelona as they aim to challenge Real Madrid for top honours in Spain and Europe. He is expected to soon hold meetings with Deco about potential new signings for the upcoming season in an attempt to weave together a formidable squad capable of getting back to the top of the game.