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Barcelona coach Luis Enrique told his players and the media after Wednesday’s win over Sporting Gijon that this will be his last season in charge of the club. He will not be coaching the team at the start of next season, citing exhaustion. 

Barca beat Sporting Gijon 6-1 at Camp Nou, and you could kind of tell that Enrique didn’t have the match on his mind. When Neymar scored Barca’s fifth -- a world-class free kick, he didn’t even smile. He just sat down on the bench and took a sip from his drink.

Enrique’s current deal expires in June and he didn’t want to wait any longer for an before announcing he would be leaving. Barca is one of the most tiring jobs in world soccer, and we saw that same tiredness result in the end of Pep Guardiola’s tenure at the club. Being in charge of Barcelona is an incredibly demanding task.

Though the club Barca is in contention to win the league and also in the Copa del Rey final, the season sort of has a black eye after losing 4-0 at PSG in the first leg of the Champions League round of 16 in February. That shocking result put massive pressure on Enrique, and it appears that it was too much.

Enrique, 46, joined Barca in 2014 and won two La Liga titles, two Copa del Rey titles and the 2014-15 Champions League.

With Enrique out of the picture this summer, the search now begins for Barcelona as it plans ahead for next season. Candidates will probably include Sevilla’s Jorge Sampaoli, Everton’s Ronald Koeman and former PSG manager and Barca player Laurent Blanc.

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