Barcelona have officially confirmed that Sergi Barjuan has been appointed as coach of Barcelona B. The former Blaugrana has signed a contract until 2023. The 49-year-old will start his work on July 12 when the reserves are set to start the pre-season.
It will be Sergi's third stint at the club, as he played for Barca between 1993 and 2002 and then coached the U18 team at La Masia between 2009 and 2011.
The Spaniard previously coached Recreativo Huelva, Almeria, Mallorca and Zhejiang Greentown.
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Victor Valdes set to be offered job at Barca B (reliability: 4 stars)
Former goalkeeper Victor Valdes is set to return to Barcelona and likely join the staff of the B team, Diario Sport claim. The 39-year-old is expected to be appointed as either the assistant to Sergi Barjuan or the goalkeeping coach at La Masia.
It would be Valdes' second return to Camp Nou after working as the U19 coach for a few months under Josep Maria Bartomeu. Back then, Victor was sacked by the club due to disagreements with the then Head of La Masia Patrick Kluivert.
After retirement, the ex-goalkeeper coached Moratalaz U19 in the 2018/19 season and fourth-tier club Horta in the 2020/21 season.
Diario Sport add that both Valdes and Barjuan publicly supported Joan Laporta during the electoral campaign and attended the official presentation of his project.
Sergi Barjuan set to replace Pimienta as Barca B coach: 3 key things to know about him
Sergi Barjuan will be the next Barcelona B coach, multiple sources, including Onze and Mundo Deportivo, confirm.
What do we know about the 49-year-old?
He's a big friend of Laporta
The two have quite a warm relationship with each other and Barjuan always backed Laporta to win the election.
Joan Laporta announced Sergi joining his board but there were actually no vacancies at the club for Barjuan. Now that Pimienta's leaving the club, the former Barca star will get a job.
He spent much time at Barca
The former left-back was part of Blaugrana between 1988 and 2002. After that, the ex-Spain international left the club for Atletico Madrid where he hung his boots.
In 2009, Barjuan came back to Camp Nou to train Barca U18 for 2 years.
He hasn't succeeded as manager yet
Barjuan has managed Recreativo, Almeria and Mallorca but none of these stints ended up being successful.
Things got slightly better at the Chinese second-tier side Greentown but it's obviously not something a future Barca B boss should be proud of.
