Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
BARCELONA? IT’S PLANECRAZY
Legend Xavi set to take over at Catalonia’s fallen giants after Koeman was axed on the flight back from Barca’s defeat to Rayo Vallecano
BARCELONA will make Xavi their next manager after Ronald Koeman was finally put out of his misery.
The Dutch boss was sacked on the aeroplane back from a dismal 1-0 defeat at Madrid minnows Rayo Vallecano (Radamel Falcao, above) on Wednesday night, a club the Catalan giants had not lost to in 20 years.
Koeman had clung on to his job, despite sliding down the table in La Liga, largely because he was too expensive to sack given he gets an £11million pay-off.
The former Everton and Southampton manager had been on the brink of the axe during the last international break when the Nou Camp board met until 4am, discussing the financial implications of his departure. They decided then they simply could not afford to replace Koeman with the club on the brink of bankruptcy despite selling or releasing their best players.
But president Joan Laporta (above, masked) is said to have snapped on the plane back from Madrid, with the Dutchman sitting just a few rows behind.
It led to comical scenes with Laporta calling the directors present on the flight together around him while Koeman watched on. They quickly decided the manager had to go... and informed him of his fate even before they touched down in Barcelona.
Laporta made his decision official within hours of arriving at the club and immediately began the process of replacing him with huge
Barca favourite Xavi. Given the club’s finances though, that could prove rather more tricky than expected.
Already, Barca are struggling to find the finances required to pay off Koeman. And former player Xavi, who was a star at the club for almost two decades and learnt managerial skills under Pep Guardiola, is under contract at Qatari club Al Sadd, where he has a deal until the summer.
Xavi has a release clause allowing him to leave for around £1m but Laporta is hoping to negotiate an agreement with the Qataris to waive that fee with the promise of exhibition games in return.
According to reports, Barca are not expecting to appoint Xavi until next week at least, with Sergi Barjuan, the current coach of the club’s B-team, taking temporary charge.
Barjuan is a former team-mate of Xavi and could become the new
manager’s assistant with Laporta placing a new emphasis on youth, just as Guardiola did in promoting youth team prospects during his successful tenure at Barca.
Reports have suggested Xavi has already held discussions and agreed to use this season to blood more youngsters and develop talent, given the precarious nature of the club’s financial position.
Koeman’s departure came as little surprise, given Barcelona’s worst start to a season for more than 35 years, and with their Champions League progress looking precarious.
Under Koeman, they have scored just one goal away from home this season and are yet to win on their travels, and it was only his eye-watering release clause – he paid his own severance to be released from the Holland job – that kept him in place for so long.