Luis Enrique is quitting Barcelona. Who’s their next manager?

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Barcelona manager Luis Enrique delivered some stunning news on Wednesday, announcing that he’ll be leaving at the end of the season. Speculation has been rampant that he wouldn’t renew his contract, but the timing of his announcement was sudden and surprising.

There are four main candidates on Barca’s shortlist, but the leader by far is Jorge Sampaoli. After extremely successful spells at the helm of Universidad de Chile and the Chilean national team, Sampaoli is having an excellent season at Sevilla, guiding them to third place in La Liga.

Sampaoli might be willing to stick around at Sevilla, but it’ll depend on what kind of support he has. Sevilla’s sporting director, Monchi, is highly regarded around the world and can basically have his pick of whatever jobs he wants, whenever he wants. Sampaoli doesn’t sound like he’s willing to stick around at Sevilla unless he has Monchi with him.

If you’re unfamiliar with Sampaoli, he’s a Marcelo Bielsa disciple who favors a variation of a 3-4-3 formation with extremely aggressive pressing. Read up on how he turned Sevilla into a defender quickly, and how he dominated South American soccer back in 2011.

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