In an surprising transfer, Barcelona’s membership president on Saturday dismissed studies of the approaching firing of Ronald Koeman after he mentioned the Dutch coach would maintain his job.
Joan Laporta mentioned hours earlier than Barcelona’s match at Atletico Madrid, “Komen will continue to be Barcelona’s coach.”
“Today, regardless of the outcome, Koman will still coach Barcelona,” Laporta informed reporters in Madrid. “He has a contract, (and) we hope he can get us back on the winning path, just the way we want to. I know he’ll give it his all.”
It was Laporta’s first public assertion since Wednesday’s 3-0 loss to Benfica, following a number of studies that counted Koman’s day.
Barcelona have misplaced each their Champions League matches with out scoring a single shot and are at risk of failing to qualify for the knockout rounds for the primary time in 20 years.
Koman himself mentioned Friday that he imagined that the rumors about his exit have been “probably true.”
The Spanish league match at Atletico comes forward of a break from membership competitions for nationwide groups to play, which might have given Barcelona’s management a window to maneuver on. Spanish media had reported that Laporta was contemplating Xavi Hernández, Andrea Pirlo and Roberto MartÃnez as attainable replacements.
But, at the very least for now, Laporta stands with the previous Barcelona defender, who entered Catalan membership historical past, because of his last profitable objective that earned Barcelona the primary of 5 European Cups in 1992. did.
“We believe he needs our confidence because he is one of us; he loves Barca,” Laporta mentioned of Koeman, who left the membership initially of the 2020-21 season amid institutional turmoil. He give up his job teaching the Netherlands to take over, which ultimately led to the resignation of former President Josep Bartomeu.
“He decided to coach Barcelona at a moment of extreme hardship for the club, both on the field and in the boardroom,” Laporta mentioned. “It’s complicated, the results aren’t great. But I ask my fans to keep their faith in our coach; he deserves it and he has faith in this team.”
As a coach, Koman has confronted the monetary disaster of Laporta’s predecessors and the membership’s monetary disaster because of the pandemic. Falling revenues and mounting debt pressured Barcelona to let go of Lionel Messi this summer season and eliminate different gamers, together with Antoine Griezmann.
However, Laporta’s relationship with 58-year-old Koman has by no means been best. Laporta actively sought to switch him final season, solely to lastly resolve to maintain him.
It is feasible {that a} issue influencing Laporta’s sticking with Koman is the monetary disaster, who will face the cash-strapped membership by breaking his contract that expires on the finish of the season.
Barcelona closed out the 2020-21 monetary 12 months with a lack of 481 million euros ($557 million) and a poorly positioned severance pay. Its wage restrict has been diminished to 97 million euros ($113 million), about 285 million euros ($334 million) lower than a 12 months in the past and 7 occasions lower than that of Real Madrid.
And Koeman’s outspoken mannerisms, who not often draw back from even occupied with honest criticism concerning the gamers and the membership, can generally be deceiving. For instance, on Wednesday, he mentioned that whereas he felt the help of his gamers, he had no thought whether or not the membership was nonetheless behind him.
But Koman led Barcelona to the Copa del Rey title final season and nurtured successively with a number of younger gamers, above Spain midfielder Pedri González. He now insists that the workforce must convey again injured gamers akin to Ousmane Dembele and Martin Braithwaite and that Anu Fati and Philippe Coutinho, who’ve just lately recovered from accidents, must do their bit earlier than really assessing their potential. Achieve full health.
“After speaking with him, I see that he believes in this team, above all coming back in full force with the healthy players we need to be competitive,” Laporta mentioned. “We haven’t been in power for that long and need a margin of error, and we have to treat Koeman the same way.”
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With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
