It can be a history-defining decision for the club, which can ascertain the club’s future, whether it holds on to its legacy or turns into another Manchester United or AC Milan. There’s more to discuss about who should take over Barcelona in the next season. Managers like Klopp, Michel, Sergio Conceicao, Imanol Alguacil, De Zerbi, Jose Mourinho, and Hansi Flick can be realistic options for the club. There’s a bit of disagreement currently between Laporta and Deco. While Laporta is favoring former Bayern and Germany coach Hansi Flick, Deco wants to go for Porto coach Sergio Conceicao. Today I’m going to discuss Sergio Conceicao’s coaching profile, tactics, career, achievements, and also my opinion towards him.

In 2017, Conceicao was appointed as a new Porto manager and is still managing the club. His Porto managerial career has earned him comparisons to Jose Mourinho, who helped the club win the Champions League in 2003–04. When he was appointed, the club was going to have some financial problems and had to sell some key players like Ruben Neves and Ander Silva. Despite letting go of the best players, he started a new era of the club with existing players, on loan and cheap additions like Paulinho, Agu, Torres, Pedro, Costa, and Dalot. He didn’t rely on a hefty budget and proved adept at adapting to the situation. With Porto, he won the Primeira Liga in 2017–18, 2019–20, 2021–22, Taca de Portugal multiple times, and Taca de Liga. He was also awarded as the Primeira Liga’s best coach in 2018, 2020, and 2022.

Under Conceicao Porto often plays in a 4-4-2, but sometimes he prefers to use a 4-3-3. In Portugal, he is well known for his passionate, uncompromising, dynamic, intense press, fast, and aggressive attacking style of play. He likes to press high to disrupt opponents, build up play, and win possession quickly. He prefers playing with plenty of width, using his two fullbacks to push up and offer support for the wingers, and attacking down the flanks to cross the ball into the box for strikers in quick transition. His defensive record is also quite good. He prefers playing a defender who can play vertical passes and a defensive pivot who can drop deeper for defense. His defensive structure is always organized and disciplined, and he tries to limit opponents space and block their attacking options. He also prefers using a physical midfielder who can press hard and dive into tackles in order to regain possession.

I think he can do decent enough at Barca. He can adapt to the situation, can play possession football, and can develop youth tactically, which is not bad. But is he the best option for Barca? For me, no. He can be a good option, but not the best. Further, he has no experience managing big clubs either. Managing Porto and managing Barcelona aren’t the same; there are a lot of expectations and pressures. Barcelona needs a manager who can make hard decisions, solve problems, handle pressure, and, last but not least, show great personality in the dressing room.