Barcelona appoints Gerardo 'Tata' Martino as new head coach

La Liga champions Barcelona have unveiled Rosario-born Gerardo Martino as their new coach. The Argentine has signed a two-year deal with the Catalan club, who moved swiftly to replace Tito Vilanova after he was forced to resign last Friday due to his cancer treatment.

Martino has vast experience of coaching in South America. Until recently he was the coach of Newell’s Old Boys, the same club that Barcelona star Lionel Messi represented in his youth, in Argentina.

Most of Martino’s managerial experience has been in Paraguay, where he won four domestic championships with Libertad before going on to coach the national side to the quarter-finals of the World Cup in 2010 and the Copa America final a year later. He had a tremendous season with Newell’s Old Boys this season as he took them to the semi-finals of Copa Libertadores.

The 50-year-old had been strongly rumoured to join Real Sociedad earlier this summer before deciding to stay at Newell’s until the end of their Libertadores campaign.

Martino’s appointment breaks with the club’s recent pledge to promote from within. But Martino is considered a student of Marcelo Bielsa, who until recently was the coach of Athletic Bilbao, and a man who is likely to represent a certain degree of continuity at the Camp Nou.

More to follow…