Barcelona have officially confirmed the appointment of Ernesto Valverde as the club’s new head coach, replacing Luis Enrique.

The Barcelona president, Josep Bartomeu, who last week said the club would announce Luis Enrique’s successor on May 29, in a press conference on Monday confirmed the former Atletic Bilbao boss as the new man in charge at Camp Nou.

“Valverde has the ability, the judgement, the knowledge and the experience. He promotes the youth players and he has a Barça way.

“He is a hard worker and he is a fan of using technology in training and in managing matches. “Ernesto Valverde’s presentation as the new FC Barcelona coach will be this Thursday.”

Valverde has been the reported front-runner for the job for some time and he last week stepped down as Athletic Bilbao boss..

Barca have been searching for a new boss since Luis Enrique announced in March that this would be his final season, and his last game in charge was Saturday’s Copa del Rey final victory over Alaves.

That was the ninth trophy Barca had won during Luis Enrique’s three years in the hotseat, which included league and cup doubles in 2015 and 2016.