Koeman is missing parts

In fifteen days, Ronald Koeman's Barcelona will debut in LaLiga by hosting Villareal at the Camp Nou and To this day, the culé technician is still waiting for the parts he needs to build his project. At the moment, the Blaugrana coach has 90 percent of the squad that finished last year plus those on loan who have returned from their experiences in various teams and the players who signed up last year. I mean, Koeman has players but the pieces he wants are missing.

The new Barcelona coach has not yet been able to incorporate a player of his choice for the project he has in mind. The two players requested by the Dutchman are two of his compatriots: midfielder Georgino Wijnaldum (29 years old, Liverpool) and striker Memphis Depay (26 years old, Olympique de Lyon). The one that seems to be closer to arriving is the second, although it depends on how the departure of Luis Suárez is going to be solved, which is complicated at times.

Depay acknowledged after the Dutch game on Tuesday against Italy that “I know there is interest, but I cannot say much more, mainly because I have not spoken much with my agent either. We will wait and see what happens … Tomorrow I will speak with Olympique de Lyon ”.

The position of Olympique de Lyon and especially of its president, Jean Michel Aulas It is not of maximum collaboration from what is deduced from a tweet he posted yesterday. “If Memphis could leave in August, it would have to stay with us on 20/21! Contrary to what I have read, there was no negotiation with Barça, I don't think OL is interested in letting its captain go after this year cut short by the LFP ”, he assured.

Olympique signed Depay for 16 million euros in 2017 to Manchester United who in turn paid 34 to PSV, where he coincided with Koeman. Now they would not negotiate for less than 30. Barcelona tries to reduce the price wanting to introduce Samuel Umtiti in the operation, a player clearly undervalued and with a salary beyond the reach of the French team.

However, the key to the operation is in the output of Suarez. The Uruguayan has a closed agreement with Juventus, but does not agree with the club on the settlement of his contract.

Koeman's other open front is hiring Wijnaldum, a player that the coach considers strategic for his project. He knows him well and is looking for a footballer who knows how to interpret the game that the new coach will try to impose. From the club they demand a bet for another style of footballer under the same contractual and age conditions as Thiago, but for Koeman it seems that it is not negotiable.

But as the negotiations drag on, Koeman needs his demands to be realized because the competition is coming up, the clock is ticking down and everything seems to depend on the exits.. The next few weeks are intense because the technical secretariat of the entity begins to accumulate the work and Koeman wants to start working with his people. And pieces are missing.