One month after his dismissal from Barcelona’s training, Ernesto Valverde began thinking about his next step and looking to head to an unfamiliar place.
Alberdi, who has won two La Liga titles with Barcelona, enjoys a rare rest period during his 18-year career that included training for several Spanish League lights such as Valencia and Athletic Bilbao, in addition to two periods with the Greek giants Olympiacos.
“People sometimes ask me why do you not train in the Premier League? And I answer them that I want to go to Australia,” 56-year-old Valverde said at an international soccer conference in Bilbao.
“The journey of any football coach does not last forever and sometimes you have to take advantage of the opportunity to live in strange places.”
In his first appearance in front of the media since his dismissal from the training of the Catalan giant in January to replace Kiki Sitten in his place, Valverde expressed his admiration for the decision of the former player Andres Iniesta to move to Japan to play with Fesel Kobe after leaving Barcelona in 2018.
“I encouraged Iniesta when he told me he would move to Japan. I told him that he would learn about a new culture and deal with different people. I am also very interested in Japan,” added Valverde, who loves photography.
“You can take great pictures in Japan. There are so many places I want to visit. We’ll see my final destination. I haven’t been away from work for so long so I’m not in a rush. I don’t have a clear picture right now.”
“Maybe he moved to a place outside the country. I want to do strange things, so I don’t exclude anything.”
