On Sunday, Barcelona announced the departure of Rafa Marquez, head coach of Barca Atletic. The 45-year-old has joined the Mexican national team as assistant manager to Javier Aguirre, who departed Mallorca at the end of last season.
🤝 Acuerdo para la desvinculación contractual de @RafaMarquezMX
Gracias, Rafa 💙❤️
📋 👉🏼 https://t.co/zkpx4bz4w1 pic.twitter.com/PFv4n96IJX
— Barça Atlètic (@FCBarcelonaB) July 21, 2024
Marquez will act as Aguirre’s assistant until the 2026 World Cup, after which he would become head coach for the next four years. Barca Atletic must now start their search for a new manager, although some good news is that the club will be entitled to compensation.
According to TUDN (via MD), Barcelona will receive €3m from the Mexican Football Association. It comes at a time when club bosses are desperate to secure as much funding as possible for their transfer activity this summer.
According to Mexican media, the Mexican Football Federation paid Barça compensation of between 3 and 3.5 million euros to terminate Rafa Márquez's contract. Via @mundodeportivo
— barcacentre (@barcacentre) July 23, 2024
Marquez was well-regarded by most at Barcelona, and especially so by president Joan Laporta. Losing him is a blow, although the compensation pocketed will certainly soften that to an extent.
