Top 10 players who have played under Ernesto Valverde
The chance to manage FC Barcelona, his former club, was perhaps the greatest piece of news Ernesto Valverde got this past summer. While the Spaniard possesses a plethora of potential, he has quite a tough task at hand, considering former boss Luis Enrique's successful tenure at the club.
Enrique's stay was short, nonetheless pretty effective. Since taking over in May 2017, Valverde seems to be doing fine, as the Blaugrana sit on top of the league after winning all seven games. There were a lot of doubts on his appointment as the head coach at Nou Camp considering his limited experience with big clubs.
Arriving from Athletic Bilbao, the Spanish tactician had little to boast about the players he had managed in his career. However, Valverde has become adept at managing big players in his current squad.
In this list, we take a look at the top ten players who have played under Ernesto Valverde throughout his career as a manager.
#10: Julen Guerrero
An immense fan favourite and a legend at the club, Julen Guerrero worked with Ernesto Valverde for two years from 2003-2005 at Athletico Bilbao. The Basque legend had a career of fourteen years, being a one-club man at Bilbao and also captaining the team for ten years from 1996.
Guerrero was an extremely talented attacking midfielder in his youth. The likes of Real Madrid and Barcelona tried a number of times to snatch him away from Bilbao. But, Guerrero stayed extremely loyal to his club, signing a ten-year contract and successfully seeing it out until the end of his career. That was the longest contract in the history of Athletic Bilbao.
Guerrero retired as the captain of the club in 2006, a year after Valverde's departure.