Guus Hiddink: The Next FC Barcelona Manager?

Guus Hiddink is widely regarded as one of the finest managers of his generation, having led the likes of South Korea, Australia, the Netherlands and Russia to impressive finishes at various international tournaments, and thanks to his successes, Hiddink was recently awarded a lucrative contract at Anzhi Makhachkala.

However, in spite of his multi-million dollar contract and his success on the international stage, Hiddink never really delivered at Anzhi, and after a difficult start to the season, the Dutch manager resigned this afternoon with Anzhi languishing in 11th place having earned just a single point from their opening two fixtures. Hardly a record to write home about, let alone one to catapult a manager into the running for the vacant role at FC Barcelona -- yet here we are, wondering whether Hiddink could really waltz into the Camp Nou ahead of both Luis Enrique and Gerardo Martino.

Hiddink proved at Chelsea that he is able to take a job at short notice -- and still deliver exceptional results, which must be appealing to both Sandro Rosell and Andoni Zubizarreta. Not only that, but Hiddink carries a certain "gravitas" that would go down well with both the press and the majority of supporters; unfortunately, we cannot say the same of Gerardo Martino, even if his managerial ethos is ideal for the club.

On the other hand, at 66 years of age, Hiddink would be nothing more than a short-term solution, meaning that before long, Barcelona would be forced to start their search again -- and on a short-term contract, would Hiddink place enough emphasis on the club's youth players? Would he be interested in planning for the future? Or would his only concern be results?

Given all that he has achieved in his career, it would be unfair to rule Hiddink out of the running, particularly given the timing of his decision to leave Anzhi, but at this point, one can't help but feel as though Barcelona would be better off taking a risk, and appointing a long-term replacement.

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