Madrid (AFP)
Ronald Koeman, cornerstone of Barça's reconstruction: the Dutch coach, future coach after the dismissal of Quique Setién on Monday, will have the difficult task of rebuilding FC Barcelona devastated by its 8-2 rout against Bayern Munich on Friday in quarterfinal Champions League final.
Ronald Koeman (57), who will therefore abandon the Dutch selection with whom he was in contract until 2022 to engage with the Catalan club, becomes the new figure of Barça's renaissance project, after the terrible Lisbon fiasco and the first untitled season since 2007 for the Catalan club.
"If all goes well, Koeman will be the coach that we announce and who will lead this team and these players with a different project," President Josep Maria Bartomeu announced Tuesday night on BarçaTV.
- Barça, "a dream" -
After a nightmarish season, between injuries, sporting disappointments and internal scandals, "Tintin", as he is nicknamed in Spain for his blond hair, accepted the daring bet to get Barça out of "one of the major crises of the modern history "of the club, and lead the construction site of its reconstruction.
"We bet on him because we know him well, we know how he sees things, how he wants his teams to play, but also for his experience, because he was in the + Dream Team + of (Johan) Cruyff, because he knows Barça and his way of seeing football, "said President Bartomeu, after having cut ties with Setién on Monday and with sporting director Eric Abidal on Tuesday.
Koeman was ahead of other big names in Europe, such as the French Laurent Blanc and Thierry Henry, the Argentinian Mauricio Pochettino, the Italian Maurizio Sarri or even the former blaugrana legend Xavi Hernandez, currently coach of the Al club. -Sadd in Qatar.
"As a coach, I have two dreams to fulfill. The first is to be coach of the Netherlands. My other dream is to one day coach Barça," said the technician there is three years, when his name circulated to replace Luis Enrique on the bench of Barça, who had finally opted for Ernesto Valverde.
"Everyone knows that I love Barça, people know all the love I have for this club in which I grew up as a player and as a person," he said in 2017.
- "Need for changes" -
In line with the Dutch tradition of Barça, after Johan Cruyff (1988-1996), Louis van Gaal (1997-2000), of which he was the deputy on the Catalan bench, and Frank Rijkaard (2003-2006), the alchemist Ronald Koeman will have the mission of transforming this team, based on the young nuggets available to the club, including Ansu Fati (17 years old) and Riqui Puig (21 years old) ...
As well as on the untransferables, announced by President Bartomeu on Tuesday evening: "There are a lot of untransferable, young players: (Clément) Lenglet, (Marc-André) ter Stegen, (Frenkie) De Jong, (Nelson) Semedo , (Ousmane) Dembélé, (Antoine) Griezmann ... These are players on whom we rely a lot and who have come to stay for many years at Barça ".
Koeman can also count on Lionel Messi, because "Messi will continue", assured the president on Tuesday. "Messi has created an era, the Messi era. In this era, there are several cycles, and we are going to start a new one," said the Blaugrana leader, who placed his trust in Koeman.
But his only experience as a coach in La Liga was mixed: in Valencia (2007-2008), Koeman upset the squad upon his arrival, and the club fought for maintenance. He will be dismissed before the end of the season, April 21, 2008, just after winning the Copa del Rey.
And yet, it is only with drastic changes of this caliber that Koeman, who came close to the worst with heart failure in the midst of the new coronavirus crisis in early May, will be able to restore Barça to its "Guardiola years" luster (2008 -2012) and answer calls from the cloakroom.
"There, yes, we hit rock bottom. The club needs changes," demanded defender Gerard Pique, very lucid at the final whistle on Friday after the terrible debacle against Bayern Munich.
Will Koeman be the great architect expected to rebuild a ruined Barça? Whatever the future of the club, he will have this blond hair as the head of a gondola.
© 2020 AFP