Former Barcelona manager Ronald Koeman has taken a swipe at Barcelona president Joan Laporta for his treatment while he was manager of the club.
Koeman was sacked by Barcelona in October after a poor run of results. He was quickly replaced by Xavi who was the manager of Saudi club Al-Sadd at the time.
Having been silent since his departure from Barcelona, Koeman has decided to open up about the treatment he received while managing the club especially from Laporta.
“You won’t see me at the Camp Nou for a while, I can’t do that yet. With this president I can’t pretend nothing happened,” Koeman told newspaper Algemeen Dagblad.
“They didn’t give me the time they have given to the new coach, Xavi.
“It is still painful for me. I was working with a lot of injured players. Now Pedri is back to fitness, and Ousmane Dembele – you can see everything falling into place.”
Koeman alleged he was forced to sell players to balance the books but has been surprised at the recent spendings of the club.
“It was at the insistence of the club’s management that I agreed to the departure of some players to get the finances in order.
“But then when you see someone being brought in for 55 million euros [Ferran Torres] shortly after letting Lionel Messi go. It’s then you wonder if something else wasn’t going on. Why did Messi have to go?”
The 58-year-old also added that every manager needed patience and finances to be able to do well but he was given neither.
“Every coach needs time and patience from the board. I would have liked the new signings too,” he said.
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“But I’m happy for the club as things are going better now, and for the players. It’s nice to see Frenkie de Jong playing good old-fashioned football; he has so much quality.
“Laporta told me a thousand times that Xavi would not be his coach, because he lacked experience.”
Koeman said he felt unwanted at Barcelona after the change of boards and accused Laporta of trying to get rid of him.
“But I was not Laporta’s coach, I had that feeling from the first moment. After the elections, we didn’t click. The necessary support from above was missing.
“The important thing for me was not the money. I really wanted to succeed as a coach at Barcelona, to do everything I could, but I realised that Laporta wanted to get rid of me because I wasn’t appointed by him.”
The Dutch man has been out of work since being relieved of his duties at Barcelona but says he remains open to taking the coaching reins in the summer.
“I have agreed with Rob Jansen [his agent] that we will see the possibilities this summer, if there is something interesting, something nice,” he said.
“But for now I am not worried about that at all. We will see.”
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