Some managers aren’t really appreciated until years after they leave, so perhaps there is still a chance that Ronald Koeman’s Barcelona tenure is viewed more favourably as time goes on.
The manner of the loss to Bayern Munich this week does demonstrate just how far they’ve fallen in recent years, but you can also argue that Koeman’s been completely done over by having no money, an ageing squad and he lost Lionel Messi unexpectedly at the final moment.
If you do want to look for something positive, he’s done good work in introducing the younger players back into the first team and actually opening the pathway from La Masia again, but you can also argue his treatment of Iliax Moriba has led to the club losing a key asset so it’s not all good.
It must be stressed that he is still in charge for now, but the reports starting to come out of Spain do indicate that he may not be for much longer:
The tweet claims that a meeting has been held where his sacking has been discussed, and it’s even thought that many board members are just in favour of paying him the €12m compensation fee for getting rid of him and starting over.
Crucially there does still seem to be some resistance with others looking to wait a few more weeks so it’s not unanimous just now, but it does sound like this is only going to end one way.
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