Photographer and coach, how bout that? Just one minor detail: this photographer will be sitting on the bench of one of the world's biggest clubs: Barcelona. There won't be much time for photos for Ernesto Valverde, unless it's to capture a beautiful play from Messi, Neymar, Suarez & co. Brilliant and innovative are the words used to describe the new Barca bench boss from Extremadura. The Txingurri which translates to "ant" in Extremaduran never thought football would be his life, in fact he grew up wanting to be a photographer! It began when he attended "Institut d'Estudis Fotografics de Catalunya" taking classes in photography in 1986 while playing for Espanyol. Valverde's brother is also a professional cartoonist. In the end Valverde knew that his destiny was to remain in football, in his words "football controls your whole mind." So, after retiring he took up coaching. How can one take pictures when the great Johan Cruyff dubbed him "one of the most promising coaches around." Valverde coached through several clubs: Athletic B, Athletic, Espanyol, Olympiakos, Villarreal, Valencia and Athletic again. 3 League titles and 2 Greek cups are in his trophy case from his days at Olympiacos. Valverde also delivered Athletic the 2015 Spanish Supercup against Barcelona, the Basque team's first trophy in 31 years.
Valverde is described as entertaining but also blunt and transparent. His most important rule is to keep the dressing room in order. If he has to bench a star like Neymar because of attitude problems he will do it. No individual comes before the team. It's no secret that one of his greatest fans is former Barca coach Pep Guardiola. The Catalan has praised Valverde many times and when he left Barca for city he suggested the club hire Valverde. Valverde chose instead to remain at Athletic but now, a few years later, the time is right for him to make the switch. The Txingurri is returning to Catalonia where he also wore the famous blaugrana jersey from 1988-90 scoring 22 goals. The press conference is set for today at 1 P.M. local time. Valverde will coach his first game on July 22 in the International Champions Cup against Juventus, the team that eliminated Barcelona in the Champions League. Don't be surprised to see Valverde picking up a camera and taking some pictures in the meantime. When you coach a squad with the firepower Barcelona have, it would pretty hard not too.....3,2,1 Click!
