08/17/2020 - 15:36
- Clarín.com
- sports
The official announcement was missing, and it arrived this Monday: Barcelona confirmed through its social networks that Quique Setién will not continue to direct the first team next season, after the meeting held this Monday by the Barça board of directors for more than four hours to discuss the serious sporting and institutional crisis that the entity is going through.
This is "the first decision in the framework of a broad restructuring of the first team that will be made from the consensus between the current technical secretariat and the new coach, which will be announced in the coming days," the Catalan club reported in a statement.
Setién, who arrived last January to relieve Ernesto Valverde on the Barcelona team's substitute bench, had signed a contract as Barcelona coach until June 30, 2021 plus an optional third year. However, he failed to improve the performance of a team in decline, nor the results of his predecessor in office.
❗ Quique Setién is no longer the coach of the first team
▶ The new coach will be announced in the coming days, within the framework of a broad restructuring of the first team
With him at the helm, the Catalans have been eliminated from the Champions League, with a disgraceful 8-2 against Bayern Munich, and from the Copa del Rey and have been unable to revalidate the league title.
With the humiliation of last Friday still recent, Barcelona began its reconstruction on Monday with an extraordinary meeting of its Board of Directors. The issues on the table were clear: the replacement of Quique Setién as coach, the cleanliness of the squad, the future of Lionel Messi and the chance to repatriate Neymar. The situation is so heated that upon leaving the conclave, some fans rebuked President Josep María Bartomeu: "Show your face!" .
Managers, sports director, players and DT ... The debate seems open about all the players in the club that need "changes" after the catastrophe in Lisbon.
"Let's all reflect. The club needs changes and I'm not talking about the coach, the players, I don't want to point out anyone. The club needs structural changes, of all kinds," Gerard Piqué had said just after the defeat against the German champions.
"BARTOMEU DA LA CARA"
The shout of a Barcelona fan to the president, after the meeting of the Board of Directors. This is shown by @ChinoNazz. pic.twitter.com/3g7k14smCd
The first step to overcome what the Spanish press has described since Friday as "the most important crisis in the modern history of Barça" is the dismissal of Setién. Appointed in January in place of Ernesto Valverde, Setién has been far from fulfilling the mission entrusted to him.
To replace him is the Dutch Koeman, former man of the house and coach of the national team, who should first adjust his economic exit from that position. There is also talk of Mauricio Pochettino a step back and other former club players, such as the Spanish Xavi Hernández or the French Thierry Henry and Laurent Blanc .
The second to jump ship could be Eric Abidal . The French sports director, in isolation after having been in contact with Samuel Umtiti, who tested positive for coronavirus, failed to give solidity to the Catalan team's project, which showed signs of exhaustion and the end of the cycle.
Bartomeu, entering the club this Monday AFP Photo
His management of the dismissal of Valverde in January is in question. Messi invited him to "make his decisions", after Abidal attributed the responsibility of Valverde's dismissal to the players.
At 33, the future of the Argentine superstar and six-time Ballon d'Or is in the air. He did not speak publicly after the shipwreck in Portugal and went with his family and those of Luis Suárez and Jordi Alba to the Catalan Pyrenees.
Messi has been delaying the renewal of his contract, which lasts until 2021. The European press speculates with possible destinations in England or Italy and his future could be another of the points on the agenda of Bartomeu and his collaborators. Such is the lack of control that Barça had to deny his departure this Sunday.
Luis Suárez, Neymar and Lionel Messi celebrate a goal from Barsa in 2015. Photo Reuters
One way to seduce Messi is to refloat the "Neymar operation", which had been ruled out months ago due to the high cost in the middle of the pandemic and because the young Lautaro Martínez was the one in the sights. However, the team's drift forces the arrival of an immediate performance crack .
According to the newspaper Sport , "Barça's attempt to convince PSG would include Antoine Griezmann as a bargaining chip." The idea would be a heads-up mega-swap, plus between 50 and 60 million euros for the French team.
Only four players from the current squad would not be on an expendable list : Messi, goalkeeper Marc-André Ter Stegen, Clement Lenglet and Frenkie de Jong.
Bartomeu has also been 'touched' after 8-2, he has received criticism for months. In this context, the club advanced the date of the presidential elections, which were scheduled for mid-2021 and will be on the first day of the game from March 15.
❗ LAST MINUTE
▶ The Board of Directors decides that the elections to the Barça presidency will be on the first match day from March 15
With information from AFP and EFE