Valverde not worried about Barcelona legacy

Ernesto Valverde is determined to enjoy his time with Barcelona rather than worrying about making a long-term impact at the club.

Former Barca coach Pep Guardiola left a lasting legacy at Camp Nou in his four years in charge, before going on to have a similar impact at Bayern Munich and Manchester City.

But Valverde would not comment on the possibility of matching Guardiola’s debut-season treble and just wants to make the most of the opportunity to coach the Catalan giants.

“I see [changes made] from the inside but don’t know how things look from the outside,” he said of the club’s progress during his tenure, speaking ahead of Sunday’s LaLiga clash with Athletic Bilbao.

“Coaches have to try to stay the course and, in the football world, everything keeps moving back and forth because there isn’t a lot of stability. What I try to do is enjoy the time with the players that I have.”

Valverde: “The countdown is on. After the international break we have a tough April, in which it is make or break time for our season. That’s why it is important to start out by winning against Athletic” #BarçaAthletic ” #ForçaBarça pic.twitter.com/PZjTzxyBEL

— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) March 17, 2018

Barcelona are still battling for honours in LaLiga, the Copa del Rey and the Champions League, but Valverde is keen not to get carried away with two months still remaining this season.

“The boat gets rocked a little bit throughout the season,” he said. “People said we drew three of five before the last two [wins against Atletico Madrid and Chelsea], now we’re talking about all this great news.

“We’re not thinking about it. We’ve not won anything yet. We have lots of chances to win and we want to take advantage, but we have a long way to go and have to make sure we don’t slip up.”