Five reasons to sack Koeman at Barça
Ronald Koeman is now history at Barcelona. The coach was sacked after his team's defeat in Vallecas against Rayo Vallecano with a goal as a definitive symptom of how the team is doing. The ball lost by Busquets, the break to Piqué and the goal that in another dynamic could have been saved by Ter Stegen.
The first reason why Koeman is not still at Barça is Joan Laporta. The new coach was keen to see the Madrid man again, but he was not keen to have the coach inherited from the Bartomeu era. The professional mistreatment to which the coach was subjected bordered on a crime because the club did not hide from pointing the finger at him by leaking information to the press. Laporta wanted to sack him as soon as he arrived. He spoke of him almost as if he was already out and when he saw the club's accounts he had to confirm him. Even before the match against Atlético de Madrid at the Metropolitano, the board ratified him again to everyone's surprise. Laporta cleared out all the relevant positions at Barça and all that was missing was the first team coach.
Barcelona did not hesitate to proclaim that the club did not have the money to sack Koeman. On the other hand, from the economic side they said that "money is not a problem". Both sides contradicted each other on whether Koeman's severance pay would be the problem. Barça is no better off after losing against Rayo than before. It is still millions in debt and in need of funds to get through the season. The money to pay Koeman the remainder of his contract does not exist. His dismissal will remain in the courts because the 12 million euros are unaffordable, for the moment, for the Catalan club that had until a few months ago Eder Sarabia as a worker because they could not settle his contract.
Koeman is not innocent. His performance in matches has left much to be desired. The changes have never been the right ones during matches and the team had no defined style. His football was not Cruyff's, nor did he play Guardiola's Barça, but neither did he adapt to the players he asked for like Memphis or De Jong. The sacred cows like Busquets or Piqué have played because putting them on the bench would have provoked another new war. He has managed the team with many shortcomings in his leadership.
Koeman is the hero of Barça's first European Cup. A azulgrana legend who should keep his name clean in the Camp Nou and in the conscience of the soçi. In 2021 Koeman is nothing more than a coach who gets beaten up in his car and insulted when he leaves the stadium with his wife after a match. A wimp of Laporta's board of directors who prefers to stain his name in the media. Koeman is not respected at Barça and that is something that should be fixed because the future also belongs to those who built the past.
Koeman is leaving because Laporta wants Xavi. He wants him in his own way because he didn't campaign for him, and he is still hurting. Their talks over the last few months have not resulted in a total agreement but they both know that Xavi's card is the only one the club can play to get people's hopes up again. The former Barça player lives in Qatar with a salary of around 10 million euros a year and a quiet life of which he has often boasted. Leaving to have the football spotlight on his head all day long and for a salary of three million euros to be divided among his collaborators is a dilemma.
There was a desire at Barcelona to sack Ronald Koeman and close the cycle that Bartomeu started. A coach who had to call Suárez to announce his departure and who has lived through the historic departure of Messi. Even his heart suffered, and he had to be hospitalised when the pressure got the better of him in the summer of 2021. Koeman leaves humiliated by the club that prides itself on values. The clamour of the blaugrana people against their own history.
