Tag: koeman barcelona

In an surprising transfer, Barcelona’s membership president quashed stories of the upcoming firing of Ronald Koeman on Saturday when he mentioned that the Dutch coach will hold his job.
“Koeman will continue being the coach of Barcelona,” Joan Laporta mentioned hours earlier than Barcelona’s match at Atlético Madrid that many stories within the Spanish media speculated could possibly be Koeman’s final.
“Today, regardless of the result, Koeman will still be Barcelona’s coach,” Laporta informed reporters in Madrid. “He has a contract, (and) we hope that he can get us back on the winning path, playing the way we want. I know he will give it his all.”
It was the primary public assertion Laporta has made since a bitter 3-0 loss at Benfica on Wednesday sparked numerous stories that Koeman’s days have been numbered.
Barcelona has misplaced each its Champions League matches with out producing a single shot on course and is below risk of failing to qualify for the knockout rounds for the primary time in 20 years.
Koeman himself mentioned on Friday that he imagined that the rumors of his exit have been “probably true.”
The Spanish league match at Atlético comes earlier than a break from membership competitions for nationwide groups to play, which might have given Barcelona’s management a window to make a transfer. Spanish media had reported that Laporta was contemplating Xavi Hernández, Andrea Pirlo and Roberto Martínez as doable replacements.
But, no less than for now, Laporta is standing by the previous Barcelona defender who etched his title into the Catalan membership’s historical past because of his final-winning purpose that earned Barcelona its first of 5 European Cups in 1992.
“We believe that he needs our confidence because he is one of ours; he loves Barça,” Laporta mentioned about Koeman, who left his job teaching the Netherlands to take over the membership in the beginning of the 2020-21 season amid institutional turmoil that lastly led to the resignation of ex-president Josep Bartomeu.
“He decided to become Barcelona’s coach in a moment of extreme difficulty for the club both on the field and in the boardroom,” Laporta mentioned. “It is complicated, the results are not good. But I ask our fans to keep their faith in our coach; he deserves it and he believes in this team.”
As a coach, Koeman has needed to climate the membership’s monetary disaster attributable to the poor administration of Laporta’s predecessors and the pandemic. The collapse in revenues and ballooning debt pressured Barcelona to let Lionel Messi go and do away with different gamers, together with Antoine Griezmann, this summer season.
Laporta’s relationship with the 58-year-old Koeman, nonetheless, has by no means been superb. Laporta actively sought to interchange him final offseason, solely to lastly determine to maintain him on.
It is feasible that one issue influencing Laporta’s sticking with Koeman is the monetary chew the cash-strapped membership must face by breaking his contract that’s set to run out on the finish of the season.
Barcelona closed the 2020-21 monetary 12 months with a staggering 481 million euros ($557 million) in losses and in poor form to shell out for severance pay. Its wage cap has been slashed to 97 million euros ($113 million), about 285 million euros ($334 million) lower than a 12 months in the past and 7 occasions smaller than that of Real Madrid.
And Koeman’s outspoken method, not often shying away from dispensing what he considers truthful criticism about gamers and the membership, could have additionally chided at occasions. On Wednesday, for instance, he mentioned that whereas he felt the help of his gamers, he had no concept if the membership was nonetheless behind him.
But Koeman did steer Barcelona to the Copa del Rey title final season and has successively nurtured alongside a number of younger gamers, above all Spain midfielder Pedri González. He now insists that the group must get again injured gamers like Ousmane Dembelé and Martin Braithwaite and have Ansu Fati and Philippe Coutinho, who not too long ago recovered from accidents, regain their full health earlier than its potential can really be judged.
“After speaking with him, I see that he believes in this team, above all after it is back to full strength with healthy players who we need to be competitive,” Laporta mentioned. “We have not been in power that long and need a margin of error, and we have to treat Koeman likewise.”