Vallecano cracks Koeman’s neck! Will the dream Xavi come?

Fourteen months. That’s how long Dutchman Ronald Koeman lasted as Barcelona’s head coach before he was sacked late last night after another defeat, this time by a La Liga newcomer. The favourite to replace him is club legend Xavi Hernández.

He has coached 67 games, won forty of them and won one trophy – the Spanish Cup. He will also forever be remembered by Barcelona fans as the man who lost Lionel Messi. That is the summation of the 58-year-old experienced coach’s roughly year and a quarter-long engagement.

His departure from Barcelona has been speculated for a long time, but the final verdict was finally delivered by the newcomer of the top Spanish league Rayo Vallecano, who surprisingly defeated the Catalan club 1: 0 and pushed it to the 9th place.

It was the fourth defeat in the last six games for Busquets and co., after they were beaten by Benfica in the Champions League or by Real Madrid in El Clásico. The club’s management had nothing to wait for.

In a brief statement confirming that president Joan Laporta had removed the Dutchman from his post, it said: ‘Ronald Koeman will say a final farewell to the team on Thursday. The club would like to thank him for his services and wish him the best of luck in his career.”

Koeman was appointed to the post after terminating his contract with the Dutch national team last August, replacing Quique Setién. However, he ended up lasting just 14 months in that role.

Who will replace him is not yet clear, but the clear favourite is 41-year-old club legend Xavi Hernández, who was a midfielder for the Blaugranas for 17 years.

A number of indications suggest that talks between him and the Spanish outfit have been going on for some time and there is a lot of interest from both sides to establish a collaboration. Thus, the biggest issue at the moment is Xavi’s contract, as he leads the Qatari outfit Al-Sadd from his position as head coach.

The other possible candidate for the Camp Nou job is Roberto Martínez, the Spanish coach of the Belgian national team. According to respected journalist Fabrizio Romano, current B team coach Sergi Barjuán could also take over the team if necessary.

Source: Sky Sports, Fabrizio Romano