Chicho Serna names the man to manage Boca: “For me, Guillermo” | OneFootball

Boca are quietly working in the search for their new head coach to face the second half of the year, in which the Copa Sudamericana looks more like a consolation prize than the main objective. In Juan Román Riquelme’s office, several profiles are being discussed to replace Claudio Úbeda, but secrecy is absolute. Outside those walls, however, many are putting themselves in the shoes of the Don Torcuato idol and making clear who should take the reins of the professional squad.

A multiple champion with the Xeneize, former member of the Football Council and very close to Román, whom he considers a friend, Mauricio Serna gave his view on the end of Claudio Úbeda’s cycle after the painful elimination in the Copa Libertadores group stage: “His departure was logical. At a club this big, where there is so much ambition and so much hope, it happens. When the objective of winning the seventh isn’t achieved, this is what happens.”

And he lamented the early exit from the continent’s most important tournament: “It’s a very hard blow for the players and the club to have been knocked out. The Boca world wants that seventh Libertadores, and it’s another year gone by. This creates a huge obligation for Boca.”

Although there is a World Cup atmosphere in the air right now and for a month the country and the whole planet will stop to watch the World Cup, Chicho believes the blue-and-gold leadership must seal the deal for their new manager as soon as possible so they can go after everything still at stake in 2026: “The coach and the players have to be convinced that they have to win the Sudamericana and the Argentine league. There is no margin for error. They are under great pressure, but that’s how it is in the Boca world.”

But the new coach should not just be anyone who happens to be in good form. “We have to look for a coach who can get the most out of the current squad, promote the youth players, and be brave. He has to have enough personality to demand, make decisions and get results,” he made clear on ESPN. And he stressed: “Today we need to look for a coach with personality. He has to be a big-name coach.”

The list of names included several with Boca backgrounds: “Guillermo, Palermo, Tevez and another one with a Boca past, Turco Mohamed… Ricardo Gareca too, but the range of options isn’t very wide.”

“The first three are very big options,” Serna hinted. Although he did not take long to highlight the name that excites him the most to take over the dugout at La Bombonera: “For me, the first choice would be Guillermo (Barros Schelotto).”

Now at Vélez and under contract until December 2026, the twin already knows what it is to play for and coach Boca. He won 18 titles, 16 as a player and two as a manager. His spell came to an end at the end of 2018, after losing the Copa Libertadores final against River in Madrid.

If it proves impossible to negotiate his exit from Liniers, Chicho named another candidate with the stature to take charge of a squad that, in his view, was strengthened to win the Libertadores: “I like Néstor Lorenzo.” As soon as he put his name on the table, the clarification came: “It’s a very complicated time to talk to him because he is ready to coach at the World Cup (with Colombia).”

And Sebastián Villa? “I love him. I’d like him to return to Boca. He should have been on Colombia’s World Cup list.” He also praised another compatriot and brought him closer to Brandsen 805: “Álvaro Montero is also good, he’s a great goalkeeper, highly regarded by Oscar Córdoba. I’d like to see more Colombians at the Xeneize.”

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.