It’s true that great players don’t always go on to become great managers, but there are so many things that go into management so it’s a totally different thing altogether.
Henrik Larsson’s managerial career has seen him go round several Swedish clubs without a lot of success, but that doesn’t mean he wouldn’t make an ideal assistant.
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We saw him during his time at Celtic that his footballing intelligence was up there with the best, while he also demonstrated at Barcelona and Man United that he had the tactical knowledge to play in different positions and do it very well.
There were some rumours starting to surface that he could be part of Barcelona’s new coaching setup Ronald Koeman, and that’s now been confirmed:
📌 Informa @HelenaCondis
🎙️ Koeman tindrà plens poders i treballarà mà a mà amb Ramón Planes
🎙️ L'holandès posa calers de la seva butxaca per rescindir contracte amb la federació del seu país
🎙️ Arribarà amb Henrik Larsson i Alfred Schreuder com a ajundants #FCBarcelona pic.twitter.com/bmTwVuRoeg
— Esports COPE (@ESPORTSCOPE) August 19, 2020
COPE is essentially Spain’s version of Talksport only it’s actually respected, so this does sound like a done deal.
It will be fascinating to follow Henrik’s career from here because you know he’s going to learn so much in this role at such a big club, and successful assistants tend to get linked with big jobs after a while.
It’s easy to see a situation in the future where the Celtic job becomes available, so he could be a very attractive proposition if he plays a big part in turning things round at Barca.
Ronald Koeman has a mixed managerial history but so did Frank Rijkaard before he took over in 2003 and he was very successful in Spain, so it’s going to be interesting to see how Koeman and Henrik get on in their efforts to turn the club around.
