Barcelona have appointed Argentine Gerardo Martino
as their new coach after he agreed a two-year contract.
The 50-year-old former Paraguay boss replaces Tito
Vilanova, who stepped down as Barcelona
manager to continue his treatment for cancer.
He was recently in
charge of Newell's Old Boys, who he led to the Argentine Torneo final title
last season.
First of all it’s a shame that Vilanova couldn’t continue, but he’s got
much more important things to worry about and hopefully he’ll make a return to
football in future.
This appointment is interesting because
Martino hasn’t risen through the ranks at Barca so I wonder what fresh
perspective he’ll bring, because last season, granted there were mitigating
circumstances, Barca did look a little predictable and one dimensional.
But there is one glaringly obvious thing Martino can do straight away
that would move Barcelona forward and it’s something both Guardiola and
Vilanova should have done and that is buy a top-class centre back, and not buy
a defensive midfielder and try and turn them into a centre back, because it
doesn’t work.
Also interesting that Martino has only been given a two year contract,
so Barcelona are already hedging their bets in case he doesn’t work out next
season.
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