Jordi Cruyff, the son of Barcelona legend Johan, is returning to Camp Nou in an advisor role.
The 47-year-old followed in the footsteps of his famous father when stepping out of the La Masia academy system in Catalunya.
Much of his career was spent away from Barca, while he has also dabbled in coaching since hanging up his boots, but a familiar face now forms part of the restructuring work being put in behind the scenes by Blaugrana president Joan Laporta.
Barca have said in a statement on the club’s official website: “FC Barcelona announces that Jordi Cruyff will join the football area of the Club and form part of the new organisational structure as of August 1.
“Jordi Cruyff, who was a player in Barca’s youth teams and in the Barca first team from 1993 to 1996, returns in a strategic role.
“His arrival has been possible thanks to the collaboration of the Chinese team, Shenzhen FC, whom he joined as coach in 2020, the Kaisa group and the president of the Chinese team, Kwok Ying Shing.
“All played a decisive role in facilitating his departure to FC Barcelona, despite still having a contract in force, and we will therefore be happy to seek future possibilities of collaboration.”
The Dutchman was always going to find it difficult to follow in the footsteps of his father, but showed enough promise to make a first-team breakthrough.
Cruyff took in 54 appearances for Barcelona, with 11 goals recorded across those outings.
He left for Manchester United in 1996, but struggled to make his mark in England and only really thrived when gracing the books at Alaves and Espanyol.
Cruyff is now charged with the task of bringing stability and success back to Barca.
Reinforcements are already being brought into that project, with deals done for Sergio Aguero, Eric Garcia and Emerson Royal.
More are in the pipeline, amid links to Memphis Depay and Georginio Wijnaldum, with major honours set to be chased down in 2021-22.
The hope is that Lionel Messi will still form part of those efforts, with the six-time Ballon d’Or set to make an imminent decision on his future as free agency beckons at the end of an expiring contract.
