Ronald Koeman will be the new coach of FC Barcelona. This is what President Josep Maria Bartomeu announced on Tuesday evening during an interview on BarçaTV, the Catalan club's television channel.
In the aftermath of the dismissal of former football coach Quique Setién, in post since January, the club president announced: “If all goes well, Koeman will be the coach we announce and who will lead this team and these players with a different project ”.
"He knows Barça"
“We bet on him because we know him well, we know how he sees things, how he wants his teams to play, but also for his experience, because he was in Johan Cruyff's Dream Team, because he knows Barça and his way of seeing football, ”continued the president.
Former Barça defender from 1989 to 1995, the Dutchman won four Spanish league titles as well as the Champions League in 1992. Aged 57, he has been the Netherlands coach since 2018.
The contract of the team's sporting director, Eric Abidal, was also terminated on Tuesday. But Bartomeu assured that "it is he who communicated to us that he wanted to leave his post, it is a personal decision".
"A renewal of the workforce"
After the terrible 8-2 conceded in the quarterfinals of the Champions League on Friday against Bayern Munich, Barça was plunged into a crisis.
“We need an evolution, with players who have had their day, who must leave, and others who will arrive. We are in the process of making these decisions, we have a plan of attack, ”Bartomeu agreed.
The president of the Catalan club is also threatened and returned to the elections for the presidency of the club, scheduled for mid-March 2021.
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“We didn't want to quit, because La Liga resumes in five weeks, and we have to plan all that. To leave now would have been irresponsible. Holding the elections from March 15 would make it possible to organize an institutional transition in all serenity ”, explained Bartomeu.
The leader again promised that "the renewal of the workforce will be as deep as it takes for the new project to be successful." "