Recently retired Thiago joins Barça coaching staff

Thiago Alcântara has temporarily joined Hansi Flick’s coaching staff at Barcelona after confirming his retirement from playing last week, the Catalan club confirmed on Wednesday.

Thiago, 33, will play a key role in helping Flick get up to speed with the idiosyncrasies at Barça, and the former Spain international knows both the club and the German coach well from his playing career.

“Thiago is set to spend the coming weeks as part of Hansi Flick’s staff in order to train as a coach,” a Barça statement said. “The former player is expected to remain with the men’s football first team squad for the entire summer, and therefore, will be on the U.S tour.”

After coming through the ranks at La Masia, Barça’s youth academy, he went on to make 101 appearances for the first team before joining Bayern Munich in 2013.

Thiago later played under Flick at Bayern and was an important figure as the German club won the treble in 2020.

Injuries disrupted his spell at Anfield and after making just one appearance last season — and 98 across four full campaigns — he announced his retirement after his contract expired on June 30.

However, he has quickly found himself back involved in football and will help Flick as the German coach learns Spanish and adapts to his new surroundings.

Flick has also brought Marcus Sorg, Toni Tapalovic and Heiko Westermann with him as assistant coaches, while José Ramon De la Fuente stays on as goalkeeping coach.

Elsewhere, as part of a shakeup to the club’s fitness department, Julio Tous, Pepe Conde, Rafa Maldonado and Germán Fernández will also form part of Flick’s backroom staff.

Tous has extensive experience in strength and conditioning after working alongside Antonio Conte during his time as coach of Juventus, Italy, Chelsea, Inter and Tottenham. Conde has joined from Sevilla and Maldonado from Real Sociedad.

Barça confirmed the appointment of Flick on a two-year deal in May after sacking previous coach Xavi Hernández following a trophy-less season.