Josep Maria Bartomeu Says Ernesto Valverde Will Be Barcelona Manager Next Season

Barcelona President Josep Maria Bartomeu has said manager Ernesto Valverde will remain in charge of the team next season.

Bartomeu confirmed earlier in the campaign the coach's contract at the Camp Nou runs until 2020, although there is an option in the deal that would allow either party to end the agreement a year earlier, in the summer of 2019.

There has been speculation surrounding Valverde's position as such, but speaking with Albert Masnou of Sport, Bartomeu confirmed their current manager will still be in the dugout for 2019-20:

"We don't have any doubts here that Valverde will be the Barcelona coach next season. We will speak with him, of course, in time. That's what we agreed.

"He's a coach we have a lot of confidence in. He's doing a great job. He's an intelligent person, he knows Barcelona's system of play and he manages the games in a way which we like."

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Valverde was appointed by Barcelona in the summer of 2017 following on from Luis Enrique. In his first season at the Camp Nou as manager, he won La Liga and the Copa del Rey, with the team only losing once in the top flight all season.

This season, Barcelona appear to be on course for more silverware under his guidance. The Catalan giants are five points clear at the top of La Liga, into the UEFA Champions League knockout stages and still in the Copa too.

Despite the titles he has won and the potential for more prizes, not all are content with Valverde as coach. Rafael Hernandez of Barcelona fansite Grup14 thinks there are limitations to the 54-year-old's management style:

It is worth considering the predicament Barca were in when Valverde took over in 2017 when assessing his work, though.

Barcelona lost Neymar, who has been so important to the team in previous years, to Paris Saint-Germain that summer. While the club spent big to sign Ousmane Dembele from Borussia Dortmund, the France international suffered an injury early in his Blaugrana career.

Yet Valverde made Barcelona competitive, and they coasted to domestic glory ahead of Real Madrid, who had dominated Spanish and European football in the 2016-17 campaign.

Detractors will point to the way Barcelona went out of the Champions League last season, surrendering a 4-1 aggregate advantage from the first leg of their tie against Roma in the quarter-finals. It's a competition Valverde appears to be taking seriously this season:

Given the worldwide focus on Barcelona and the stories generated by everything managers and players say, Bartomeu will be content with having a cool head like Valverde at the helm.

Although he's a little more pragmatic in his playing style than iconic former coaches like Pep Guardiola and Johan Cruyff, Valverde says the right things and steers his team to positive results. If Barcelona sample more success at the end of the season, there'd be no reason to end this prosperous relationship.