Koeman fires at Barcelona president: They didn’t give me the same time as Xavi, who he didn’t even want. Why did Messi have to leave?

Ronald Koeman has led Barcelona this year in one of its worst seasons in the 21st century. Ninth place in the league and a position on the brink of elimination from the Champions League in the group stage cost him his place. Now the Dutch coach is looking back on his engagement at Camp Nou and firing back at president Joan Laporta.

Koeman had a very difficult position. Lionel Messi and Antoine Griezmann left Barcelona before the season, and the management brought in replacements in the form of Memphis Depay and Luuk de Jong (Agüero played almost nothing). Because of the big financial crisis, they simply couldn’t afford more.

Losing Messi after almost 15 years must have had an impact. Barcelona fell to ninth in the table after appalling performances and results, and were one step away from elimination in the Champions League. Moreover, there were reports that the players were not happy with coach Koeman at all. The logical step was to sack the Dutch coach.

In his place came Xavi, who first dropped out of the Champions League, the Copa del Rey and the Spanish Super Cup. But then, under his leadership and with new signings, the team began to pick up, finishing fourth in the league and advancing past Napoli in the Europa League playoffs.

But it must be admitted that Xavi has a completely different team than Koeman had in the autumn. He’s got strength in attack in the form of Ferran Torres, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Adama Traore. On top of that, he has a key player, Pedri, who was out for the whole autumn, back to health and Ousmane Dembélé is also getting into good form.

And Koeman can’t get over that. So he still sees his end in Catalonia as an injustice. “You won’t see me at Camp Nou for a while. With this president, I can’t pretend that nothing has happened,” Koeman told Dutch daily Algemeen Dagblad.

“They didn’t give me the time they gave Xavi. It’s still painful for me. I’ve been working with a lot of injuries. Now Pedri is fit again and Ousmane Dembélé… It shows,” Koeman was more specific.

The biggest loss for Barcelona was certainly the departure of Messi. The club could not afford to offer him a new contract because of major financial problems. That’s why Koeman doesn’t understand the winter purchases.

“Because of the club’s strong insistence, I agreed to let some players go in order to put the club’s financial situation in order. But then you see them bringing someone in for 55 million moments after they let Lionel Messi go… At that point, you ask yourself if there was something more behind it. Why did Messi have to leave?” asks the 58-year-old coach.

At the same time, he did not forgive himself for alluding to President Joan Laporta. Koeman came in under former president Josep Maria Bartomey, but since Laporta’s arrival he has not felt comfortable in Catalonia.

“I was not Laporta’s coach. I had that feeling from the first moment, after the election it didn’t fit. I lacked the support I needed from the management. Money was not important to me, I wanted to succeed as Barcelona coach. I did my best, but I realised that Laporta wanted to get rid of me because he didn’t choose me,” the Zaandam native is convinced.

Xavi is quite successful at the moment in combining experienced players with hungry youngsters and the fans are quite happy with the club icon. But according to Koeman, the former great midfielder should not have been on the bench in the first place.

“Laporta has told me a thousand times that Xavi is not the coach for him because he lacks experience, ” Koeman lashed out at the Barcelona president.

Source: Marca, Algemeen Dagblad