Tuesday 23 May 2017 21:32, UK
Ernesto Valverde's exit from Athletic Bilbao has been confirmed a week before Barcelona will announce their new head coach.
The confirmation will arrive two days after the team's Copa del Rey final meeting with Alaves on Saturday.
Former Barcelona player Valverde is the front-runner to take the reins from Enrique, who after three largely successful campaigns has decided to move on, and Valverde's appointment looks more likely following the announcement he will not be in charge of Basque club Athletic next season.
A brief club statement read: "Ernesto Valverde will not continue as coach of the first team of Athletic Club in the 2017-18 campaign."
Valverde, who helped Barca win the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup and Copa del Rey during his two-year spell at the club, has impressed since taking charge of Athletic for a second time in 2013.
The 53-year-old led the club to four successive top-seven finishes, a Copa del Rey final and the quarter-finals of the Europa League.
The former Espanyol, Olympiacos, Villarreal and Valencia boss also helped Athletic lift their first silverware in three decades when he masterminded a 5-1 aggregate defeat of Barca to win the 2015 Spanish Super Cup.
