Ernesto Valverde will do a Pep Guardiola
The coach will not speak about his future or decide on a new deal until next year
“I haven’t spoken to anyone at the club. Coaches go day to day and week to week. It seems early to speak about that,” said Ernesto Valverde, over his future. His contact ends at the end of this season with a third year optional. If he was a player the club would move now to renew.
However Valverde is following the Guardiola method, which is to wait until at least halfway through the season to communicate his future. Pep went year by year with his renewals as Barca coach. He signed for two seasons at first but after that just added a year when he renewed.
Valverde is following the same strategy. It helps to focus exclusively on the competition and performing. The question of his future should not be a distraction. It also helps keep the players tense until the end of the season.
In February Valverde should tell the club his intention. That is roughly the timing Luis Enrique took. He decided he was leaving at the end of the season on March 1, between the first and second legs of that fateful Champions League tie with PSG.
That is when the club start to plan the next season, and they need to know who the coach will be. The club respect Valverde’s decision to wait. He has the absolute confidence of the board.
