Koeman points to doctors

Ronald Koeman is very upset with the medical services, to which he points out in part responsible for the disconcerting situation that the first team is mired in on the subject of injuries and treatments. The last straw for the Dutch coach was the unexpected injury of Martin Braithwaite, who went from training on Saturday with the team to the operating room in just over twenty-four hours. This situation has now been joined Jordi Alba, pending tests after injuring his hamstrings this Tuesday against Bayern.

Koeman has long been asking the club for a series of changes in medical services to optimize performance, aware that the work that is being done can clearly be improved. In fact, the club already moved this summer in that direction by contacting David Álvarez, the head of Betis physiotherapy, in order to occupy that position at Barcelona this season. Álvarez was also not a stranger at the club: he had worked under Guardiola when he achieved the sextet. However, this operation was eventually truncated unexpectedly. And that even the head of Barcelona's medical services, Ramon Canal, had traveled to Seville to close an agreement.

Finally, and despite Koeman's demands to agitate medical services, only one change occurred: the doctor Dani florit jumped from the first team to reinforce the successful section of women's soccer. Nothing more. A situation that did not please either the coaches or the players, who also expressed internally their desire for changes within the medical services.

The great highlighted at the moment is being the head of physiotherapy of the first team, Juanjo Brau, that in theory he was the person who was going to replace David Álvarez. Brau has a team of seven more physios under his charge, but lately, and under the pressure of feeling singled out, he has decided to delegate rather little, to the detriment that this entails in every way.

There is no doubt that the image of the club's medical services, once a world reference, is very deteriorated, especially after the accumulation of errors, both in diagnosis and treatment, with Ansu Fati and Philippe Coutinho, as spearheads. Both players were predicted four months out due to meniscal injuries and now have almost ten. In fact, Coutinho reappeared on Tuesday after 258 days off the pitch.

Apart from these two players, others like Sergi Roberto and Araújo were relapse meat last year, while Pique He chose to go to external consultations to solve his knee problems.

Koeman had to endure his first year stoically, watching as key players on the team lengthen their recovery 'sine die' or relapse instantly after returning from injury. In this second year it seems that he is not willing to repeat the same mistakes and has asked Laporta to act before the end of the year. We will see what the margin of maneuver of the president is and what solutions the medical managers offer him in this regard. Koeman is still waiting …