Chicho Serna names who should manage Boca: “Guillermo first” | OneFootball

Boca are quietly moving in the search for their new coach to tackle 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 total. Outside those walls, however, several people are putting themselves in the shoes of the Don Torcuato idol and making clear who should take charge of the professional squad.

A multiple-time 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 harsh 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 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 gone out. The Boca world wants the seventh Libertadores, and another year has gone by. This creates a huge obligation for Boca.”

Although there is currently a World Cup atmosphere in the air 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 to go after everything that remains in this 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 have great pressure, but that’s how it is in the Boca world.”

But the new coach should not be just anyone who happens to be doing well at the moment. “We have to look for a coach who can get more 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 have to look for a coach with personality. He has to be a big-name coach.”

The carousel of names included several with Boca experience: “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 huge options,” Serna let slip. Though he did not take long to highlight the name that excites him 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 coach. His spell came to an end at the close of 2018, after losing the Copa Libertadores final against River in Madrid.

If it proves impossible to negotiate his exit from Liniers, Chicho mentioned 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.” No sooner had he put his name on the table than 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 squad.” He also had praise for another compatriot and linked him with 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.