The Asturian coach signs a two-year extension to his current contract, ending fierce speculation regarding his future at the club.
In a big coup pulled off by club president Josep Maria Bartomeu, Enrique, as well as his coaching staff, penned their commitment to the club for the foreseeable future. In a space of twelve months, Enrique has taken Barca from trophy-less to a treble, and brought the Spanish giants back to the apex of European football.
With Enrique remarking that he was uncertain about his future as recently as the Champions League Final, alarm bells were sounding on full-volume throughout the club. The thought of losing their manager, after leading them to a successful treble in his first year, would’ve been a PR nightmare, that the club wanted to avoid at all costs.
The press had not been kind to Enrique during the first half of the season. His perplexing policy of rotation, and benching of club star Lionel Messi, led to the conduction of a poll, that saw 60% of the Barca faithful, wanting his resignation.
With controversies, mismanagement, and ego’s rife, Barcelona weren’t the model for ideal club management.
Teamwork guarantees a successful model. The renewal of Luis Enriquea s contract is great news for Bar a pic.twitter.com/fI9zcVSrhR
a Josep Maria Bartomeu (@jmbartomeu) . June 9, 2015
Enrique’s extension however, has capped a stellar week for the club as a whole. Before the showpiece event in Berlin, Barcelona signed Jordi Alba and Pedro Rodriguez to long-term contracts, before signing Dani Alves to a two-year extension right after the final.
With the contractual loose ends tied up, as well as exciting prospects like Aleix Vidal joining in January, Barca look primed and ready to defend their titles on all three fronts. With a committed personnel, under an astute taskmaster, Barcelona’s dominance might only just have started.
