Bartomeu: With Setien, Barcelona will continue playing well Barcelona First match against Granada

Barcelona saw the Supercopa de Espana semi-final defeat to Atletico Madrid as the chance to move in a different direction, replacing Ernesto Valverde with Quique Setien, and Josep Maria Bartomeu believes that the team will continue playing well, despite the change.

Much was made of the speculation surrounding Xavi potentially returning as coach, although it's thought that the opportunity came to soon for the former midfielder, especially as he wanted to show loyalty to Al-Sadd.

"I am convinced that we will continue playing well and playing football in a way that we are always used to," Bartomeu admitted in an interview with Sport.

"He will make changes, of course, there will be nuances to his style, but I think that with the players we have and the talent Quique has to work with, we'll be fine.

"There were talks with Quique a few days ago, he said he knew he was a candidate but he didn't believe he'd be the chosen one, this is why things took so long."

When asked specifically about the rumoured approach to Xavi and the Spaniard's reasons for not taking the job, the current president was rather non-committal, instead opting to look to the future.

"Xavi will be the Barcelona coach one day, I have no doubt about that," Bartomeu intimated.

"He is a person who perfectly understands our football, he has huge desire and will one day be here.

"But now Quique Setien is our coach, and I think and hope he will do a very good job."

The specific reasoning as to why Los Cules pulled the trigger on Valverde's time in charge at the Camp Nou remains unclear, yet Bartomeu wanted to thank the former Athletic Club coach for the work done in his two-and-a-half-year spell.

"Ernesto Valverde has done a magnificent job in these two and a half years," Bartomeu stated.

"We thank him for the success he brought with titles, his way of working and his attitude.

"He is hugely intelligent and very professional, he has left many good things at this club and he was the individual who gave this team a new boost."