Fresh from joining the Reds, Ferran Sibila expressed his desire to get to work on the training ground and start developing players.
Our new assistant coach, alongside Poya Asbaghi, will take training for the first time on Monday as we prepare to take on Swansea City in midweek.
“I’m really excited,” he declared. “To come to England, the home of football, it’s like a dream. So, I’m super excited to start working on this project.”
At 33-years-old, Sibila has gained plenty of coaching experience in his native Spain, Japan and Sweden prior to his arrival at Oakwell.
iFollow Barnsley asked him to explain a bit about how he made the switch from Southern Europe to Scandinavia back in 2017.
“I ended up in Sweden because I was working for a consulting company called Soccer Services Barcelona and, at that moment, we were doing coaching education for coaches,” he recalled.
“We had a coach from GIF Sundsvall called Joel and then he was in this location and, after two years, he wanted one of the coaches from the company to come with him as assistant coach.
“In that moment, they offered me this possibility and I arrived there and we had a really good time together.”
Sibila and Asbaghi worked together at IFK Göteborg when the Spaniard joined as assistant coach, and the pair have been reunited once more in South Yorkshire.
They have a mutual understanding and respect for one another, and a clear philosophy that they want to transcend onto the pitch.
“We met through football and working a lot of hours where we developed a friendship as well,” continued Sibila. “It’s a professional relationship, supported with a friendship.
“We believe that we want to be a team that press, a team where the players work hard together for the same objectives.
“At the end of the day, what we like as coaches is to be on the pitch with the players to create a good group atmosphere, to develop and prepare the games to win.”
