Barcelona Selects Gerardo Martino As Next Manager At Camp Nou

It didn't take long for Barcelona to select their next head coach after former manager Tito Vilanova recently stepped down due to his ongoing battle with throat cancer.

Gerardo Martino is set to sign a two-year contract with the Spanish club and after being named as one of two realistic candidates for the open position at Camp Nou - joining former Barcelona B manager Luis Enrique on the short list - Martino is now set to take control of an extremely talented squad.

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"FC Barcelona have reached an agreement to appoint Gerardo Martino as the new coach of the football team for the next two seasons," a Barcelona statement read. "This agreement is pending the drafting and signing of the contract. In the coming hours a program will be planned for his arrival in Barcelona, signing the contract and the subsequent presentation."

Guiding Newell's Old Boys to the Argentinian Clausura title a year ago was certainly a huge selling point for Barca but perhaps an even bigger lift was the high praise the 50-year-old Argentina native received from the club's best player.

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"I like Tata Martino," Lionel Messi recently said to the Telegraph regarding his feelings on the fellow Argentine. "He is a great coach and he showed that in the Clausura with what he did for the team, the way it ended and how he did it. He gets his teams playing well and we all respect him."

Martino now becomes the fourth Argentine to take charge at Camp Nou, joining Helenio Herrera, Roque Olsen and Cesar Luis Menotti.

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While Tata Martino is certainly expected to implement his own brand of soccer to a team that features Messi and rising Brazilian talent Neymar, ESPN FC indicates that assistant coach Jorge Pautasso, fitness trainer Elvio Paolorroso and Lionel Messi's former youth trainer Adrian Coria will all join the Barca staff.