'Koeman will be Barca's next coach, Messi to stay'
Ronald Koeman is set to become Barcelona's next coach and the Dutchman will construct his team around Lionel Messi, president Josep Maria Bartomeu said on Tuesday.
Koeman, who is revered by Barca fans for delivering their first European Cup as a player, will be expected to lead the club's rebuilding work after they were thrashed 8-2 by Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarter-finals last Friday.
"If there is no change then we will announce Koeman as our next coach and he will lead this team and these players forward with a different type of project, led by a coach who all Barca fans know," Bartomeu said in an interview with the club's official television channel.
Koeman's imminent arrival will be the third phase of a restructuring of the club which began with Quique Setien's sacking on Monday and continued on Tuesday as sporting director Eric Abidal agreed to terminate his contract.
Koeman, 57, arrived in Barcelona on Tuesday after spending the morning at the Netherlands' headquarters to negotiate being released from his contract with the national team, who he has coached since 2018 and led to qualify for Euro 2020.
Koeman is fondly remembered at Barca for the role he played in Johan Cruyff's hugely successful side known as the 'Dream Team' and for scoring the only goal against Sampdoria in the 1992 European Cup final.
The defender later became the club's assistant coach before embarking on an eventful career as a head coach, managing Dutch sides Ajax Amsterdam, PSV Eindhoven and Feyenoord plus Premier League teams Southampton and Everton and La Liga's Valencia.
"We are betting on him because we know him very well, we know how he thinks and how his teams play, but also because of his experience and as he was in Johan's 'Dream Team' he knows Barca and how we understand football," Bartomeu added.
Bartomeu also said captain Messi was not about to leave the club and would be an integral part of the team under Koeman.
"Messi wants to end his career at Barca, he has said that many times. I've spoken to Koeman about him and he has told me Messi will be the pillar of his project," Bartomeu said.
"Messi has a contract with Barca until 2021. I speak to him and his father regularly and they know that we have a solid project, that a new coach is coming and that he will count on him."
Bartomeu, who on Monday announced that the club's presidential elections will take place in March 2021, three months earlier than planned, also defended his running of the club after facing calls to resign after the defeat by Bayern.
"We have a sporting crisis but not an institutional one," he added.
"We've had a very negative result in the Champions League but the club is in a good place in a social and financial sense."
-
The OLED BurnThe one photo that shows exactly why women are fighting TrumpGoogle's Pixel smartphones struggle to click in world's fastest growing smartphone marketNorth Korea accuses UN Security Council of applying double standards over military activities应对高温 户外驿站送清凉Twitter explains why it hasn't banned Alex JonesBirths, weddings dip to lowest levels in MayGov't says it will test THAAD radar waves again to allay health concernsFootage of Kim YoSampras pays tribute to Federer
下一篇:Police bust crypto scammer who received plastic surgery to evade arrest
- ·CPUs Don't Matter For 4K Gaming... Wrong!
- ·Report: Apple influenced Mark Zuckerberg's decision to ban InfoWars
- ·Bastianini nails Aragon MotoGP on last lap
- ·Celtics suspend coach Ime Udoka
- ·16 of the Most Epic Sandwiches Around the Planet
- ·Basketball World Cup: US likely to start with seven players
- ·Bastianini nails Aragon MotoGP on last lap
- ·Report: Apple influenced Mark Zuckerberg's decision to ban InfoWars
- ·Sports minister says audits into football, badminton federations set to conclude in Sept.
- ·Eliza Byard fights so that every LGBTQ student can be themselves
- ·Celtics suspend coach Ime Udoka
- ·Amazon Dash announces more than 50 new brand partners
- ·Aricell CEO arrested in first case under industrial accidents law
- ·YouTube is removing North Korean content and no one knows why
- ·Civic group calls for lifting anti
- ·为了交通建设甘当“孺子牛”
- ·Upgrade Your Monitor, Not Your GPU
- ·Ministry releases SK No. 2 on parole
- ·More Samsung Galaxy S8 rumors: 'Infinity display,' iris scanner and yes, a headphone jack
- ·UN committee approves draft resolutions calling for North Korea to give up nukes
- ·21 College and University Museums
- ·China's latest beauty app takes Snapchat
- ·Please don't look at this Timothée Chalamet ventriloquist doll for too long
- ·North Korean leader says inter
- ·SpaceX Polaris Dawn mission: How to watch the launch
- ·9 children's books to read for Pride Month
- ·CeeDee Lamb secures record
- ·Bastianini nails Aragon MotoGP on last lap
- ·汉源县地税局加大税法宣传力度
- ·Pogba's brother charged by police
- ·Military prosecutors indict intel official over leaking 'black agent' info
- ·'Smash 64' tournament ends in a marathon Pikachu duel
- ·ARF issues statement voicing 'concern' over N. Korea's nuke, missile tests
- ·Pogba's brother charged by police
- ·Expanded police surveillance will get us “broken windows” on steroids.
- ·People are really getting into 'social experiment' surveys on Twitter