Ronald Koeman: Time’s Up?

After two back-to-back abysmal performances, Ronald Koeman’s future in his position as Manager of FC Barcelona has received plenty of speculation. Many fans believe it’s time for the club legend to exit the club and for a fresh face to step in.

Barcelona faced off against Bayern Munich in the Champions League last week for the first time since the humiliating 8-2 loss in August 2020. The match wasn’t very different this time around with Bayern Munich clearly the strongest of the two sides and earning themselves a well deserved 3-0 victory against the Catalan club, who didn’t even register a single shot on target. Barcelona fans weren’t very happy by the very poor performance from the team and apparently neither was Joan Laporta. And rightly so!

Barcelona suffered another humiliating loss at the hands of Bayern Munich last week.

On Monday, Barcelona met Granada at the Camp Nou where they conceded in the second minute of the game! For most of the game, the Catalan side were nowhere near the standards you would expect from the 5-times Champions League winners with the only stand-out appearance coming from Ronald Araujo. In the end, it took 90 minutes for Barca to equalise, the final goal coming from a bullet header by Araujo of the end of a beautiful cross from youngster Gavi, his first assist for the senior team.

 

After the early goal that saw Granada take the lead, Barcelona took on an unusual style of play with most of their chances coming from the side wings. Koeman’s side managed to tally up FIFTY-FOUR crosses by the end of the match, their most since 2016. Towards the end of the game, even two centre-backs, Gerard Pique and Ronald Araujo, were playing as strikers.

It truly was a disappointing spectacle, leaving plenty of fans and board members very angry.

 

Another reason why Koeman may be getting dismissed is due to his ‘strained” relationship with club president, Joan Laporta. When the board were looking for somebody to replace Koeman in June, a spokesperson from Koeman’s team admitted they felt disrespected, even though it was not Laporta who hired Ronald Koeman back in August 2020 but Josep Bartomeu, ex Barca president who has since been arrested for his involvement in the “Barcagate” scandal. 

Ronald Koeman after Monday’s disappointing 1-1 draw against Granada. 

It’s rumoured that the Barcelona board are currently looking for Ronald Koeman’s replacement but the real question is: who could that be?

Who can replace Koeman?

The most likely candidate at the moment is Barca club legend, Xavi. Xavi Hernandez, widely considered as one of the best midfielders of all time, played at the Catalan club for 24 years, joining the cub’s youth system at the age of 11 in 1991. He debuted for the senior team in 1998 against Mallorca and continued at Barca for 17 years, until 2015, leaving after a perfect season where the club won the treble. In total, Xavi played 767 games for Barcelona, a former record, recently broken by ex teammate Lionel Messi, racking up 85 goals and 185 assists! He exited the club with a total of 25 trophies, including 4 Champions League trophies.

 

In 2019, Xavi was appointed manager of Qatar Super League team, Al Sadd. In his second season in charge, Xavi led Al Sadd to domestic success, topping the league by quite a lead after going unbeaten, also winning two other domestic trophies. He has been highly praised for his team’s performances, using Barcelona’s famous style of play, the Tiki-Taka.

Xavi and his long time midfield partner, Andres Iniesta.

Another potential candidate for the job is Belgium National Team manager, Roberto Martinez. It’s reported that Barcelona sporting advisor, Jordi Cruyff, son of the late Barca legend Johan Cruyff, is very interested in the idea of Roberto Martinez and he was the one who initially presented Martinez’s name. However should Martinez become the Barca coach, Barcelona would have to compensate the Belgian Football Federation, as well as the sum of €12m to Ronald Koeman for his dismissal. 

 

Roberto Martinez has faced a lot of criticism for failing to win a single trophy with the Belgium National Team, who are currently ranked as the best national team in the world by FIFA. However, he has done well at some of his previous jobs.

 

 In 2007, Martinez accepted the managerial role at Swansea City, his former club, with whom he promoted into the Championship in his first season as manager. Martinez then moved to Wigan Athletic in 2009, saving them from relegation for three consecutive seasons. Although, in his fourth season as Wigan coach, that came to an end and Wigan Athletic were relegated from the Premier League. However, Wigan did manage to pull a memorable feat that season by winning the FA Cup, narrowly beating Manchester City 1-0 in the final after a last minute winner.

 

After Wigan, Martinez joined Everton, where he finished 5^th in his first season at the club. He was later fired after two consecutive 11^th placed finishes. In August 2016, Roberto Martinez was appointed Head Coach for the Belgium National Team and in his first major international competition, led Belgium to a record 3^rd place in the World Cup. His team later lost in the quarter finals of Euro 2020 to eventual winners, Italy.

Roberto Martinez (Belgium National Team Manager) at Euro 2020.

Other candidates include Garcia Pimienta and Andreas Pirlo. Garcia Pimienta, ex Barca B manager that took his team to the playoffs in the 2020/21 season before unfortunately losing in the final and later being dismissed in June 2021, reasons unknown. However, even thought he was released from his position as the reserves manager, Pimienta is still an option to Laporta. Pimienta has recently said that he would not be opposed to the role as First Team Manager. 

 

During his spell of 3 years at Barca B, Pimienta held a win percentage of 44.12%, winning 45 and drawing 28 out of 102 games. The Spanish coach is known for having a good relationship with his players including many youngsters that ave now passed through to the first team. Many believe that he is the right man to lead Barcelona through this “golden generation”. 

 

Garcia Pimienta (former Barcelona B Manager).

Andreas Pirlo, recently released from his role as Juventus Manager, is now a free agent and someone of interest to Joan Laporta. In his first and only season as the Juventus coach, Pirlo won both domestic cups but was later released after failing to continue the club’s Serie A dominance, in which they had won the last nine titles, and barley scraping a Champions League spot on the last match day. 

 

Another option for Barcelona is Antonio Conte, former Inter Milan boss, who recently resigned after the club refused to allow him to sign any players. Antonio Conte recently led Inter Milan to victory in the Serie A, de-throning nine-year holders Juventus. 

Conte has held the role of manager at many top clubs over the year, with the likes of Chelsea and Juventus. In 2011, Conte took on the managerial position at Juventus and directed them to an unbeaten run, winning the league. He wet on to win 2 more Serie A titles for the club before resigning at the end of the 2013/14 season. In 2016, Conte became Chelsea boss, winning the Premier League in his first season and the FA Cup in the next. However, he was let go from his position after the team finished fifth in the league. From there, Conte joined Inter Milan, where he coached the team to the final of the Europa League in his first season, before ultimately losing the final 3-2 to Sevilla. 

 

Antonio Conte (Former Inter Milan coach).

However, many believe that Conte may not be happy with the state of Barcelona’s current squad. It is also well know that Conte likes to buy quite a few players for his team and Barca’s current economic problems will be an issue and they would be unable to comply with Conte’s wishes. Barcelona are also looking for a long term option for manager, whereas Conte normally doesn’t stay at his teams for more than 2 seasons. 

There is one more option for the head position at Barca but they are unknown. It is rumoured that the Barcelona board are keen on another unnamed alternative, who “has history with the club”. 

Who could be this mystery manager?

Considering all the above, Xavi or Garcia Pimienta seem the idealistic choices, considering both have history at the club and both understand the “Barca Way” including Barcelona’s famous style of play, The Tiki-Taka. However, the worry between fans is that Xavi may follow the same path as Koeman, a club legend disrespected because of his coaching ability and Pimienta’s reason for being let go from the reserve team may cause future problems. 

 

Be that as it may, if Xavi and Pimienta are unavailable for the job, presumably the most likely candidate should be Roberto Martinez, due to his vast managerial experience, without the added baggage that comes with Antonio Conte. His success at many clubs, including Swansea City, Wigan Athletic and the Belgium National Team makes him an attractive option.

 

There are a great amount of options for the Barcelona Manager position at the moment, but choosing the right one wont be an easy task. One thing’s thing for certain, a decision needs to be made soon.

Barcelona’s options for the managerial position.