On Wednesday evening after watching his Barcelona team run out 6-1 winners against his boyhood club, Real Sporting de Gijón, Luis Enrique finally confirmed his plans to leave Barça when his contract expires this summer.

There had been speculation that this would happen for a while but it doesn’t make it any less surprising that a man who has won eight trophies 'so far' in his time at the club has taken the decision to leave.

The Barcelona job is one of, if not the, biggest in world football and it appears Luis Enrique is the latest to fall victim to the demands of the job with the Asturian citing similar reasons to Pep Guardiola with exhaustion being the main reason for both departing the Catalan giants.

When all is said and done most will look back at Luis Enrique’s tenure as an extremely successful time and rightly so as he won back-to-back La Liga titles and Copa del Rey’s as well as the Champions League in his first season.

He could very well add more silverware to that as Barcelona are now right back in the title race after Real Madrid dropped points at home to Las Palmas on Wednesday and his last game in charge (excluding a miracle comeback in the Champions League) looks set to be the Copa del Rey final when Barcelona travel to the Vicente Calderón to take on Deportivo Alavés.

However, as successful as the last three years have been there are still large numbers of Barcelona fans who will welcome news of his departure and in truth they have some valid reasons.

Luis Enrique’s first season in charge of Barcelona started quite poorly and he looked all but gone in early January 2015 when he fell out with several key players including Lionel Messi.

Enrique's reign should be remembered as a success despite the troubles

The story goes that he had allowed the South American players a few extra days at home after Christmas before coming back to the club but he had failed to mention that if they took the extra days he wouldn’t start them for what was always a tough trip to San Sebastián to take on Real Sociedad.

On that Sunday evening Lionel Messi, Neymar and Dani Alves came off the bench as Barcelona lost 1-0 at Anoeta and the pressure was on the manager. To make matters worse, Messi missed training the next day amid rumours that he could no longer play for Luis Enrique. With relations at rock bottom it fell to Barcelona legend Xavi Hernandez to bring the dressing room together and he duly did just that.

Suddenly Messi was playing on the right wing, Luis Suárez was central and the infamous 'MSN' trident had just been born. By the end of the season Luis Enrique would have led Barcelona to their second treble and ensured himself a place in the club's illustrious history for his exploits as a manager as well as a player.

Enrique’s second season saw similar issues to his first with a slow start but the club found their feet in October and went on a 39-game unbeaten streak that lasted until a Clásico defeat to Real Madrid in early April.

That defeat was the beginning of a bad run that saw Barcelona lose four out of five games including three defeats in a row. They were eliminated from the Champions League by Atlético Madrid and gave up a large lead in La Liga as the team looked to be dead on their feet with the games coming thick and fast.

Fortunately, for the club they managed to muster enough energy to win their last six games of the season which saw them win La Liga and the Copa del Rey but the message from the manager was loud and clear. He needed a bigger squad and the meltdown that had almost derailed the club in April was blamed on his lack of options in the squad.

Luis Enrique’s cries for a stronger squad were answered in the summer of 2016 with the club spending over £100 million on Samuel Umtiti, Jasper Cillessen, André Gomes, Denis Suárez, Paco Alcácer and Lucas Digne. Ironically, these arrivals have had a direct impact on Luis Enrique losing some elements of the support with one of the biggest reasons being the inconsistency in his line-ups.

He has clearly felt that there was a need to rotate the team in order to save them for the crucial months of the season but there is a feeling that he has overdone it, particularly in midfield which has been such a strong area for Barcelona over recent seasons.

This season nobody really knows who he regards as the third choice midfielder behind Sergio Busquets and Andrés Iniesta with no fewer than eight others seeing time in the midfield (Denis Suárez, Arda Turan, Ivan Rakitic, André Gomes, Rafinha, Javier Mascherano, Sergi Roberto and even Aleix Vidal have all had minutes in midfield in La Liga). While rotation can be good when done correctly there has been a feeling that so many different combinations has led to confusion and partnerships haven’t been allowed significant time to develop.

Enrique's departure coming after finally appearing to have found a tactical solution

Another issue that has left many Culés frustrated is the larger squad has pretty much rendered La Masia redundant. In games like Wednesday’s when Barcelona were in control of the game from early on some fans feel like that’s an opportunity to blood some young talents but Luis Enrique has failed to do so with the only time youngsters have got on the pitch being the early rounds of the Copa del Rey.

Many fans feel he has put a block on these young players making what is already a huge step up from Barcelona B to the first-team and under his watch a lot of highly-rated talents have left the club in search of first-team football.

There are of course many Barcelona fans who will be hugely saddened by his departure. Luis Enrique has put in a lot of years service to the club and they feel he has been mistreated by some of the more vocal fans who they feel have very short memories.

Luis Enrique’s departure is all the more bittersweet as some of his most ferocious critics have been impressed in the last few games as he finally looked to have found a winning formula with a change in his system. His preferred 4-3-3 has been under pressure all season, mostly due to the departure of Dani Alves whose partnership with Messi and Rakitić on the right had been excellent.

Unfortunately, since Alves left for Juventus in the summer there has been a lack of balance in the team with the right-sided midfielder and right-back filling a similar position when Messi drifted infield which left the right wing largely unoccupied.

In recent games Luis Enrique has switched to a back-three with Rafinha playing on the right and Neymar on the left which made the team look a lot more balanced and suddenly the critics were made to swallow their words as Luis Enrique was showing the tactical nous that many felt he lacked.

It’s unfortunate that we probably won’t see that formation for much longer than the three months he will remain but if it adds more trophies to the haul he has already accrued, it will only add to what should be a positive legacy of his time at the club.

Some will question the timing of the move with three months left of the season but ultimately nobody knows how the team will react to the news.

If rumours of splits in the dressing room are true then perhaps it was the right move as everyone knows they can pull together for three more months then the change they crave is coming in the summer.

Big decision for Barcelona to make on Enrique's successor

This approach worked well in 2015 when Josip Maria Bartomeu announced elections in the days after that now infamous defeat at Anoeta. Fans, players, management and board all seemed to be on different pages at that time but Bartomeu’s announcement brought a sense of togetherness in that the problems could be put on the back burner for a period which meant everyone could concentrate their efforts on performances on the field instead.

These premature announcements can go wrong though and Manchester United fans probably know that better than anyone. Back in 2001 Sir Alex Ferguson announced he planned to leave United at the end of the 2002 season and the club were sitting ninth in the league at Christmas as the players seemed to have took the news badly, but after Ferguson announced he had changed his plans and would stay they turned their form around and finished third that season.

In the end time will tell us whether Luis Enrique has done the right thing in announcing his plans but one thing we do know is that the board will appreciate the extra time to consider who will replace him for the 2017-18 season and beyond.

As stated above the Barcelona job is one of the biggest in football and attention will immediately turn to who will take over the club. When Barcelona and the opportunity of coaching players like Messi, Iniesta, Suárez, Neymar, Piqué and Busquets come calling there are few out there who would be able to turn down such an opportunity. One of the bigger factors that could hold the club back from making certain appointments would be compensation.

The club has a policy where they are not supposed to pay more than 70 per-cent of their income on wages and they seem to be constantly hovering around that level at the moment despite posting record figures in terms of turnover and the message from the board in recent times has been consistent in that if they want to keep their star players then they can’t afford to splash out huge fees which might mean they will be reluctant to spend too much on buying a potential candidate out of their current contract.

Who will replace Luis Enrique?

So who are just some of the names that have already been linked with replacing Luis Enrique as manager of Barcelona?

Jorge Sampaoli - The former Chile manager would be an extremely popular candidate in the eyes of many fans and it is believed Neymar and Messi are both big fans of the Argentine. His style would be appreciated by the Barcelona fan base and although he is currently managing title rivals Sevilla his release clause is believed to be around €1.5 million. One thing going against Sampaoli is there are some members of the board who would like someone with experience at the club as a player or coach and he has neither.

Ernesto Valverde - The current Athletic Bilbao manager played for Barcelona in the late 80’s/early 90’s and is believed to be high on the list of potential suitors. He has experience of La Liga with several clubs including Barcelona’s city rivals, Espanyol. His contract is up in the summer so he would be available to join at the end of the season for free.

Ronald Koeman - The Dutchman is held in high regard at Camp Nou due to an excellent spell at the club between 1989 and 1995. He famously scored the goal that won the club's first ever European Cup in 1992 thanks to a trademark free-kick. His 20-year coaching career has saw him take charge of clubs in his native Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and England as well as a two year stint working as assistant manager at Barcelona during Louis van Gaal’s first spell at the club. The biggest issue with him joining is he has been at Everton for less than 12 months and his release clause may put the club off.

Arsene Wenger - Another of the 'will he or won’t he' club. Wenger’s contract at Arsenal is due to expire this summer and like Luis Enrique the fans are pretty much split on whether he should stay or go. Similarly Barcelona fans are split on whether they want the Frenchman to come to the club or not. Some believe he is yesterday’s man and believe he is out of touch with the modern game while others believe a move to Catalunya would revitalise him and he could be a great appointment.

Paco Jemez - An interesting candidate and in truth a very unlikely one. Jemez is an advocate of the attacking style that Barcelona fans crave but he’s a bit of a loose cannon and it’s unlikely the board would even consider him.

Laurent Blanc - The Frenchman has been mentioned a lot in the media and it’s true that he fills some of the criteria that the board will look to when naming Luis Enrique’s successor in that he is a former player and he has been unemployed since leaving Paris St Germain in the summer.

Max Allegri - The Juventus manager has been named as a possible successor despite strong rumours linking him with Arsenal should Arsene Wenger decide to leave. Whether he goes to Arsenal or not remains to be seen but it is unlikely that he will be at Camp Nou next season.

Mauricio Pochettino - The Tottenham Hotspur manager has been quite vocal in that he wouldn’t want to manage Barcelona as he has played and managed Espanyol so this one seems like a non starter.

Thomas Tuchel - The Borussia Dortmund manager is another that would be a popular choice among the fans. He has Dortmund playing a good brand of football and hasn’t been shy to field the youngsters which would please the many advocates of La Masia.

Xavi Hernandez - Xavi will undoubtedly manage Barcelona in the future but now is not the time. He will gather some coaching experience first, possibly within the club like Guardiola did before he takes over first team responsibilities.

Eusebio Sacristán - Eusebio has done a great job at Real Sociedad and he has a long history with Barcelona having been a player, assistant manager and manager of Barcelona B. He won a lot of fans when his Real Sociedad dominated Barcelona in a league game at Anoeta earlier in the season but he is under contract with the Basque side until 2019 which could mean substantial compensation.

Frank De Boer - De Boer is another former player and he is currently out of work after a short spell at Internazionale earlier in the season. While he probably won’t be at the top of the list his name will be mentioned for obvious reasons.

Unai Emery - The PSG boss just led his team to a dominant performance over Barcelona in the Champions League which has won him many admirers. Not only did they beat Barça, they done it by outplaying Barcelona at their own game. He will most likely be discussed but compensation would be a big issue.

Marcelo Bielsa - Many coaches have been linked due to the fact they are Bielsa disciples so why not the man himself? Okay probably because the Barcelona board wouldn’t appoint such an eccentric character but in the small chance it did happen it would undoubtedly be a fun ride for as long as it lasted.

Juan Carlos Unzue - Luis Enrique’s assistant and a former player. Barcelona went down this route when their last treble winning manager left with the late Tito Vilanova replacing Guardiola. There has been talk that he would be Luis Enrique’s first choice and he will most likely be considered as a serious candidate by the powers that be.

There are obviously many other options out there and many names will be linked with the job over the coming three months. Ideally, the club will want to get the appointment sorted as soon as possible but at the same time they would be wise to take their time to weigh up the pros and cons of the clubs next manager.

Fortunately, time is on their side with Luis Enrique still around for the next three months and they will be hopeful that a strong finish to this campaign would see the next manager start his tenure in the curtain raising Spanish Super Cup come August with Barcelona qualifying as league champions, Copa del Rey winners or maybe even both.

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About the author
Gerry Johnston
Cover Spanish and Italian football for VAVEL UK.