Las Palmas head coach Francisco Javier García Pimienta has this evening spoken out over the recent speculation linking him with a move to Barcelona.
The subject of the Barcelona hotseat, of course, has dominated the Spanish headlines over the course of the last couple of weeks.
This comes amid mounting pressure on the shoulders of Blaugrana boss Xavi Hernández, owing to a less than impressive stretch of recent form.
A whole host of tacticians, in turn, have been named in the media as potential replacements for the Spaniard.
And one such name to have been pushed this week comes in the form of the aforementioned Francisco Javier García Pimienta.
García Pimienta, for his part, is in the midst of a stellar campaign in charge of Las Palmas.
After overseeing the club’s promotion to the top-flight last season, the 49-year-old has since guided Los Amarillos into the top half of the table this time round, owing largely to a defensive record bettered only by Real Madrid.
With García Pimienta boasting a long-term Barcelona past, too, it has therefore come as little surprise to see rumours surrounding a potential reunion between the parties beginning to spread.
Drawn on the subject of as much today, however, the Spaniard, for his part, did appear somewhat dumbfounded.
Speaking ahead of his side’s La Liga meeting with Rayo Vallecano on Saturday, García Pimienta was quick to halt the speculation in its tracks, adamant that his focus remains solely on matters at Las Palmas:
“Really? It (joining Barcelona) doesn’t even cross my mind,” he began. “Thanks to Las Palmas I am in La Liga. We arrived with the intention of getting promoted and we achieved it. Now, the only objective is survival.”
García Pimienta continued:
“When we have it, I will have taken another step as a coach, but now it is impossible to know what may come.”
Conor Laird | GSFN
