The Setien Report: Real Betis produced a document on the coach for Barcelona Barcelona Interest last season

It's no secret that Quique Setien wasn't Barcelona's first choice to replace Ernesto Valverde.

It seemed like Xavi Hernandez, Mauricio Pochettino and Ronald Koeman were in front of him in that respect.

As MARCA understand, the decision to appoint Setien as Blaugrana boss was not as improvised as it might seem.

You have to go back to the lunches between board members of Barcelona and Real Betis last season to find the first mentions of Setien taking over at the Camp Nou.

It was then, in the presence of directors from both clubs, that Barcelona told Betis that, should Valverde be sacked, Setien would be among their candidates to replace him.

The Spaniard's attractive style of play and his confessed admiration for the Barcelona philosophy with his constant references to Johan Cruyff and Pep Guardiola have always been warmly received at the Catalan club.

Barcelona also contacted Betis in order to find out Setien's personal and professional tendencies in the event of appointing him in the future.

Thanks to the friendly relationship between both clubs, Betis produced a complete report on Setien including his methodology at work, the way he manages the dressing room, his relationship with the board, employees and players, for Barcelona.

Setien left Betis at the end of last season for non-sporting reasons. His relationship with the fans wasn't good and made some controversial comments in press conferences.

Now, at Barcelona, he will have three main challenges: play attractive football, win matches and trophies and stay out of trouble when speaking to the press.

Setien has been given the opportunity he always wanted and now it's time for him to right some wrongs.