Hit Laporta: “They didn’t give me the time they gave Xavi and it’s painful”
BARCELONA, 3 Mar. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Dutch coach Ronald Koeman, who already warned after his dismissal from FC Barcelona in October 2021 that he would give his version of the events, has stirred up the current president Joan Laporta in various directions, such as Messi’s departure to sign Ferran Torres later for 55 million euros.
“Why did Messi have to leave if they later sign someone for 55 million?” Koeman asked in his country’s newspaper ‘Algemeen Dagblad’. “You wonder if there wasn’t something else going on. Why did she have to go?” he added.
According to Koeman, who spent a year and two months in charge of the Blaugrana first team (and directed 67 games), President Laporta and the club’s sports area did not give him the same amount of time as his successor, a Xavi Hernández who took the reins in November and that he has only 20 games on his work sheet.
“They didn’t give me the time that they have now given the new coach, Xavi. It’s still painful for me. I was working with a lot of injured people,” Koeman argued. “Now Pedri is back in shape, and Ousmane Dembélé… You can see everything. Every coach needs time and patience from the board,” he appealed.
In this sense, he also regretted not having been able to have the signings that Terrassa has had. “I would also have liked to have signings like Ferran, Adama, Aubameyang…. But I’m happy for the club, since things are going better now, and for the players,” he clarified.
And, still about the Terrassa coach, he revealed that he was not the president’s chosen number one. “Laporta told me a thousand times that Xavi would not be his coach, because he lacked experience. But he needed a shield, someone to hide behind,” he pointed out to the top manager.
Koeman considers that, upon being signed by former president Bartomeu, Laporta wanted to erase him from the map. “I was not Laporta’s coach, I had that feeling from the first moment. I lacked that support from above. I really wanted to succeed as a coach at Barcelona and do everything I could, but I realized that Laporta wanted get rid of me because he hadn’t chosen me,” he said.