Real Sociedad coach Imanol Alguacil was a target for Barcelona before the Azulgrana appointed Xavi Hernandez.
‘Diario Sport’ reported on Thursday that Barcelona had tried to bring Imanol Alguacil from Real Sociedad to take over as coach from Ronald. Koeman, however, was unsuccessful before bringing in Xabi Hernandez from Al-Sadd during that time. UFABET
Alguacil, 52, has risen from the youth ranks to take charge of Real Sociedad’s senior team since December 2018, leading the Basque side to the Copa del Rey title. The 2019-2020 season from such performance impressed Joan Laporta to the point that Azulgrana’s president wanted to hire him to take over as trainer after the club fired Koeman from his position in November 2021.
However, Barcelona’s attempts were unsuccessful before Laporta negotiated with Al Sadd to bring Xavi in as coach in November of that year. And the 43-year-old did not disappoint, leading the Azulgrana to La Liga and the Supercopa de Espana last season.
It was hardly a performance in which they looked out of their depth against one of the strongest teams in Europe.
Now, Alguacil will be hoping to show that La Real can also go toe-to-toe with last season’s Champions League finalists Inter. He believes that his side are more than capable of getting a result.