Barcelona's coach Tito Vilanova steps down to attend to cancer relapse

After suffering a further relapse of throat cancer, Barcelona's coach Tito Vilanova has stepped down with the club having to cancel a planned trip to Poland for a pre-season friendly.

According to The Guardian, Barcelona is expected to announce the new manager in the coming days, until which, the first team will be run by the assistant coach Joan Francesc Ferrer Sicilia 'Rubi', who only joined the club from second division Girona in the summer.

The new coach will not be an in-house appointment, the report said.

Vilanova, missed two months of last season after travelling to New York for treatment on a relapse of his cancer and in his absence, the team was coached by the assistant Jordi Roura, the report added.

The report further added that a number of potential candidates have already committed themselves to other clubs for the new season, including Manchester City's manager Manuel Pellegrini, the former Barcelona B manager Luis Enrique, who is now at Celta Vigo, and the new Athletic Bilbao coach Ernesto Valverde.