Jordi Cruyff: If I had dreamed of a Camp Nou return, I'd be there now
There were talks between Cruyff and Barça over a job in the summer
However, Johan's son was set on making the step into management
Former Barcelona Barcelona player Jordi Cruyff has taken the step into coaching with Maccabi Tel Aviv in Israel. After five years as the club's sporting director, the Catalan took on the job as coach almost by accident, after getting the urge to make the step into management after going unbeaten in six games when given the job temporatily last season.
Cruyff, whon Thursday will take on Villarreal in the Europea League, confirmed in an interview with El Mundo that in the summer he had long talks with Barcelona about returning to the club, as revealed in SPORT originally. That's where things stayed, though, given he was keen to make the move to the bench and that returning to Camp Nou has never been a priority.
"If it had been a dream or a challenge (to return to Camp Nou), I would be there now, although I don't know in what function," Cruyff said in the interview. "There were some conversations in the summer, but I was already sure that I wanted to become the coach at Maccabi."
The son of Johan Cruyff added: "I went unnoticed for many years in Barcelona. After the death of my father, I was out of the spotlight and doing my own thing.Then someone from the family had to step forward (...) I noticed that people realised I was different from when I played and had hair...!"
