Quique Setien reveals Barcelona struggles and near move to Egypt

Quique Setien says he was unable to be himself during his difficult spell as Barcelona manager and has revealed he was close to joining an Egyptian club just days before taking charge at Camp Nou.

Speaking to the Quien marca gana podcast in an interview published by Sport, Setien said he could not recreate the personal and professional relationships he had built elsewhere.

“I wasn’t myself at Barcelona. Either I couldn’t be, or I didn’t know how to be. That is the answer,” he said. “I had a certain personality, but when I look at photographs from that period, I don’t recognise myself.”

Setien arrived from Real Betis, where he had left amid calls for his departure, but said the day-to-day atmosphere in that dressing room had been exceptional. He added that the coronavirus pandemic made his time at Barcelona even more complicated and that he did not enjoy the experience as much as he had hoped.

Despite that, he said he had never regretted accepting the job. Setien also recalled telling Lionel Messi how long he had admired watching him play.

“I once said to Messi: ‘I spent 14 years of my life waiting for Barcelona’s matches so I could watch you play,’” said the Cantabrian coach.

Setien was preparing for Egypt move

Setien was without a club after recovering from a health problem that had forced him to reject several offers. He then received a lucrative proposal from a businessman interested in buying an Egyptian club.

“He offered me an enormous amount of money,” Setien said.

The offer persuaded him to begin organising a move with his coaching staff. The team were seventh or eighth in the table and were expected to qualify for the African Champions League.

“I told myself: ‘Five months in Egypt with one of these teams would be a great experience,’” he said.

A private plane had already been chartered and the contract had been prepared, although it had not been formally signed. The deal collapsed when the businessman decided not to buy the club after problems emerged during the review process.

At the same time, people advising Setien repeatedly told him not to travel because he might be offered the Barcelona job.

“They called me saying: ‘Don’t go to Egypt, because you could sign for Barcelona.’ I would answer: ‘But how am I going to sign for Barcelona? What have I done to manage Barcelona?’”

Three days after the Egyptian deal fell through, Setien was told to prepare for the flight to Barcelona and sign that evening.

He said joining Barcelona meant entering a club where players had worked for years according to established principles, leaving the new manager with little to change immediately.

Sarabia incident caused dressing-room tension

Setien also discussed his assistant Eder Sarabia’s outburst during a clasico at Santiago Bernabeu. Television cameras recorded Sarabia making strong comments about some players, creating significant controversy.

“It was a complicated situation and it was contained, but some things remain, which is natural,” Setien said.

He said inexperience and personality had contributed to the incident, and that he and Sarabia frequently discussed football. Setien told his assistant he would one day become a manager and would have to accept situations he disliked, even when convinced he was right. Despite their differences, he defended Sarabia’s importance and said both men had learned greatly during their years together.

Setien also claimed: “I have coached players worth 80 million euros who do not understand football.”

He described working individually with an unnamed Barcelona player, using match footage to question decisions and highlight alternative options. Setien said a poor touch could turn a three-against-two attacking advantage into a four-against-three advantage for the opposition, while body position or the direction of a first touch could determine whether an opportunity was created or lost.