Jordi Cruyff came to run Barcelona

For more than ten years, Jordi Cruyff has been preparing for this very moment. Returning to Barcelona, ​​the team of his life, in the role of professional manager. For him, this is a dream come true, and no less – closing a family and personal circle.

Contrary to reports, Jordi will not arrive tomorrow on a flight from China to join the team of President-elect Juan Laporta, but it is pretty clear to everyone that this will happen soon. Since August, he has been coaching the Chinese Shenzhen, which is in training camp ahead of the season opener on April 20. Cruyff denied yesterday that he would arrive in Barcelona this week, but behind-the-scenes actions are being taken to release him from the contract. Only then is the official announcement of the appointment expected, and he will be able to speak publicly.

Cruyff Jr. began his career as a sporting director in 2010 in Cyprus. He was appointed to a position in a small team, AEK Larnaca, and appointed Ton Kanan as coach, who had coached Maccabi Tel Aviv a few years earlier.

Maccabi Tel Aviv was also the next stop on Jordi’s path towards the goal. In 2012, owner Mitch Goldhaar appointed him “Sports Director”, a move that led not only to three consecutive championships, but also to dramatic changes in the management culture in Israeli football.

In Cruyff’s sophomore year in Tel Aviv, he told me in an interview with Blazer: “I only have one bullet in the barrel, and if I had shot and missed, I would not have had another chance. That’s why I started working as a professional manager in small countries, where I could build and prepare myself for the rest of the way, when I get to the top football leagues. “

He was careful then not to mention the explicit name “Barcelona”, but anyone who knows Jordi, his family and the history of his life, understood that there is always a direction. Although he was born in Amsterdam and played for the Dutch national team, the city of Barcelona is the real focus of his life. That’s where his children live, and that’s where he also began his football career.

In the same interview he said: “How would I define myself? First a Catalan, then a Spaniard, and finally a Dutchman. I was born in the Netherlands, but after eight days I was already in Spain. I grew up there, and I feel Spanish in mentality. I eat dinner at ten-thirty. “That says it all. I do not come to Amsterdam, not even to vacations. I have almost no family in the Netherlands.”

In the context of football, he added: “Barcelona was and remains the team I am a fan of. It doesn’t matter who the president is, who the coach is, who the players are. Sometimes I get angry, like about the way they left Eric Avidel, but this is my team.”

According to the well-known legend he had wanted for years, Johan Cruyff made sure that Jordi was born by caesarean section in February 1974, so that the father would not miss the Clásico against Real Madrid. It was worth it. Barça defeated Real 0-5 at the Bernabeu en route to the championship.

When Johan Cruyff was appointed Barcelona coach in 1988, 14-year-old Jordi joined her youth department. At the age of 18, he was already the top scorer for the reserve team, where he collaborated with Oscar Garcia – whom he brought many years later as a coach to Maccabi Tel Aviv.

Between 1994 and 1996, Jordi recorded 54 games for Barcelona, ​​coached by his father, and scored 11 goals. His highlight was the 0-4 win over Manchester United in the Champions League, when he cooked up a goal for Hristo Stoichkov. “Thanks to this game, Alex Ferguson signed me at United two years later,” Jordy always says.

Cruyff Sr., a great Barcelona coach until Pep Guardiola arrived, was shamefully sacked at the end of the 1995/6 season by President Joseph Luis Nunez, with whom he had an argument. The dismissals came a day before the last home game of the season, against Salta Vigo. On the day of the match, May 19, 1996, agitated Jordi was in the lineup. The tens of thousands of fans at Camp Nou cheered him on – when in fact they intended to cheer on his fired father, who remained angry at his home.

When Jordi was substituted towards the end of the game, he threw the shirt towards the fans. This was his last appearance as a Barcelona player, as a club man. Immediately afterwards he moved to Manchester United. And now, almost 25 years later, Jordi is on his way home, to the role he has long dreamed of.

The one who will give him the opportunity is Laporta, who was already the club’s president between 2003 and 2010 – Barça’s most glorious period. The 58-year-old president has close ties to the Cruyff family. In his youth he was Johan’s lawyer. In 1998, he formed the “Elephant Blau” (“The Blue Elephant”), a group of fans who tried to oust President Nunez. Johan Cruyff supported from behind during, which failed.

But in 2003 Laporta was elected president, much thanks to the open support of Cruyff the Elder. Johan was Laporta’s senior adviser, who admitted: “I appointed Frank Rijkaard and Pep as coaches, and Chiki Bagirstein as professional manager, because Johan told me.” In March 2010, Laporta appointed Cruyff as the club’s honorary president, but just three months later, Sandro Rossi, Laporta’s rival, took over and canceled the appointment. Now Jordi is closing the circle. And he also feels mature.

“I had offers from England, Spain, the six best leagues in Europe, but I felt it was not time yet,” Cruyff said in that interview in Tel Aviv. “The situation in leagues like Cyprus and Israel is different, because sometimes the president decides and sometimes the coach.”

It seems that Jordi will have to work in collaboration with Meteo Almani, who was the general manager of Valencia and should be appointed to the same position at Barça. Both will have the same status in decision-making, although Cruyff will have senior authority on the professional side.

One of Laporta’s main tasks will be to keep Leo Messi on the team, whose contract will expire at the end of the season. Cruyff will also enter the picture here, who will have to convince Messi that Barça will have a team that can compete for all the titles.

In an interview with Spanish radio station Cadena Sir, the Dutchman admitted he did not know if the flea was going to stay, but sounded optimistic: “Only one person knows what will happen and that is Messi himself, but his picture with his son at the Camp Nou and the celebration against Sevilla say a lot. “This is speculation.”