Official: Barcelona appoint new B team coach

Only days after the departure of Garcia Pimienta, Barcelona have named Sergi Barjuan as the new manager of the club’s B team.

Pimienta had been in charge of the Barcelona B team since 2018 and had done a solid job, taking the side to back-to-back promotion playoffs, while being responsible for the development of youngsters like Alex Collado, Nico Gonzalez, Ronald Araujo, among others.

However, the Barcelona hierarchy decided to part ways with him earlier this month, along with fellow coach Alex Garcia. Now, the Catalan giants have confirmed via the club’s official channels that Sergi Barjuan will be taking over the reins of the B team.

❗ [ÚLTIMA HORA]

? Sergi Barjuan, nuevo entrenador del Barça B

Todos los detalles ? https://t.co/pf3lpmspzw#ForçaBarça ?❤ pic.twitter.com/KTaRpQ87Yd

— FC Barcelona B (@FCBarcelonaB) June 17, 2021

Barjuan is a former Barcelona academy graduate and himself. A left-back during his playing days, he went on to make close to 400 appearances for the Blaugrana between 1993 and 2002, winning as many as nine trophies during his time at the club.

After winding down his playing career with Atletico Madrid in 2005, Barjuan returned to Barcelona as a coach in 2009, managing the Juvenil B team for two years, following which he also had stints with Recreativo de Huelva, RCD Mallorca and Chinese club Zhenjiang Greentown.

Barjuan has now returned for his third stint with Barcelona, this time as the manager of the B team. The 49-year-old has signed a contract for two years till June 2023. He will start his work with the club’s reserves from July 12 for the pre-season ahead of the 2021/22 season.

Given the job that Pimienta did, despite not being able to achieve promotion from the RFEF First Division, Barjuan will have his task cut out once he assumes his position. Having tasted plenty of success as a player with Barcelona, the 49-year-old will now be hoping to repeat it as coach of the B team.