Barcelona said goodbye to Robert Lewandowski last weekend, while this Saturday the club will part with two members of the technical staff. After much uncertainty over his future, it looks like Thiago Alcantara will leave the club this summer.

The 35-year-old joined Hansi Flick’s staff during the build-up to last season, helping the German coach adapt to Barcelona and also serving as a translator between different languages. However, before the first game of the season, Thiago returned to England for tax reasons.

Last summer he returned again as an “official” part of the technical staff, where he took an important role in mentoring the players and establishing the principles of Flick’s playing system.

However, it now seems that his adventure at Barcelona is coming to an end. Thiago was seen being greeted emotionally by the players during the final training session of the season as Flick confirmed he will be leaving the club.

The German coach spoke of Thiago’s departure on Friday, ahead of the final game of the season against Valencia, heaping praise on his former player, with whom he first worked at Bayern Munich.

“I told the staff and the players about my relationship with Thiago. When I was assistant coach at Bayern and then I became the head coach, one of the first things I had to do was to leave Thiago on the bench, and it was not easy for any of us, because he was a world-class player. I changed the philosophy of the game a little, but the attitude, the mentality and the way he behaved were exceptional,” declared Flick.

Source: prizrenpost