La Blaugrana sporting director, Andoni Zubizarreta, revealed that the club’s hierarchy did their best to dissuade Pep Guardiola from his decision to leave the Camp Nou outfit.
Pep Guardiola announced his decision to leave his responsibilities as Barcelona head coach after the end of the season. The statements have brought the Catalan club stern criticism from footballing circles for their inability to keep Guardiola at the Camp
Nou.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Barcelona-c38604 sporting director, Andoni Zubizarreta, has not taken the outpouring disenchantment from the club’s board lightly and came out in the open to talk on the subject.
Former president, Joan Laporta, lent his voice on the issue and claimed that it has been negligence on the part of the backroom that the 41-year-old is leaving after a spell of four glorious years in charge.
The former goalkeeper refused to contest what the former supremo had to say but shed light on the subject. Zubizarreta revealed that La Blaugrana hierarchy did their best to change Guardiola’s heart but his decision was set in stone.
"I am not one to contest Laporta, but we did everything we could to keep Guardiola," the retired Spanish international claimed.
Real Madrid assistant manager, Aitor Karanka, had earlier shown his distaste for the whole contractual saga with Guardiola, which brought wrath from Zubizarreta.
The Barcelona executive stated that he did not understand what Karanka had meant to say and asked him to accept the exceptional achievements of the departing Catalan manager.
"I do not understand Karanka's comments - acknowledging the exceptional work of a person is something basic," he noted.
"I was delighted when Guardiola said that Karanka's remarks were obvious."
Zubizarreta also rejected transfer speculations linking the Camp Nou-based outfit with Valencia right-back, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Jordi-Alba-c19111. Spanish media circles are full of reports linking La Blaugrana with the Spanish international, with some going to the extent of saying
that a deal has already been brokered.
The cautious sporting director dismissed the notions as outputs of the rumour mill and added that they do not have any agreement in place to take on the formerly trained La Masia academy graduate as they respect http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Valencia-c40863 a lot.
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