BARCA LINE UP KOEMAN AFTER FIRING SETIEN
HERO BACK AS BOSS AND IN FIGHT TO KEEP LIONEL
RONALD KOEMAN will face the immediate task of persuading Lionel Messi to stay at Barcelona when the Dutchman is appointed as the new manager today.
Quique Setien was sacked last night after the humiliating 8-2 defeat by Bayern Munich in the Champions League last Friday left the Catalan giants in crisis.
Koeman, 57, has agreed to leave Holland’s national team and answer the call from his former club after an emergency board meeting yesterday.
Settling the future of superstar Messi will be Koeman’s first task after the Argentinian suffered a strained relationship with Barcelona this season, even before their worst result in European history.
He openly criticised technical director Eric Abidal in February and took aim at the Barca board after the playing squad agreed a 70 per cent pay cut in March.
Last month, Messi called Barcelona a “weak team” after the defence of their La Liga title was ended by 10-man Osasuna.
Messi has not spoken publicly since last week’s quarter-final exit. However, reports from South America at the weekend claimed the rout at the end of a trophyless season has led the 33-year-old to seek a transfer, with Manchester City and Inter Milan the leading contenders.
The six-time Ballon d’Or winner will be out of contract next year and would be able to leave on a free transfer.
Barcelona hope the appointment of Koeman and a huge summer rebuild – including trying to re-sign Neymar – will convince Messi to agree a new deal. The Dutchman, who suffered a heart scare in May, spent six years at the Nou Camp as a player and scored the winner the first time Barcelona lifted the European Cup in 1992.
But his return might only be a stop-gap appointment due to the political in-fighting at the club.
Setien was appointed in January by unpopular president Josep Maria Bartomeu to replace Ernesto Valverde.
Club elections are due later this year with ex-president Joan Gaspart standing on a ticket to bring back Pep Guardiola.
Catalan businessman Victor Font, meanwhile, wants to appoint former captain Xavi as manager and revive the flow of talent from La Masia Academy.
Xavi, who is in charge of Qatari club Al Sadd, rejected a return in January and is understood to be unwilling to work for Bartomeu.
Experienced defender Gerard Pique offered to leave the club in a dramatic pitchside interview after the Bayern rout.
Pique declared: “The club needs changes.”
A summer clearout will see Ivan Rakitic and Arturo Vidal leave while Luis Suarez, who joined from Liverpool in 2014, has been linked with a return to Ajax.