Koeman’s dismissals as coach: from Valencia to Barcelona via Everton

Ronald Koeman closed the player-coach circle when he took office, after being a club legend, again Barcelona coach in August 2020. He did so in a turbulent stage of the entity, as a bridge between the previous directive (Bartomeu) and the current one (Laporta). The results have not been the desired ones and the Copa del Rey last year has been overshadowed by the league swing, the European weakness and a football that, with Messi’s goodbye, has been losing heat until Barça was almost without fangs at all. throughout the present course.

The lights, his commitment to youth (Ansu, Pedri, Gavi, Nico …), have not been enough. The defeat against Benfica seemed like the sentence, but Laporta endured. Nevertheless, the setback in El Clásico against Madrid (1-2) and, above all, being subdued by Rayo in Vallecas (1-0) have made the president’s glass of patience overflow. That has been the chronicle of a dismissal, announced this Thursday at 00:15. But it was not the first time that the Dutchman said goodbye to a project ahead of time. And, in 24 years on the bench, he has had other unsuccessful experiences …

Hurricane in Valencia

After being the one who ended his first two adventures as head coach at Ajax and Benfica, and becoming the second coach, after Leo Beenhakker, to win the Eredivisie with the Ajax player and the PSV (2006-07), would arrive at Valencia in October 2007. There he already demonstrated his fondness for future projects and his commitment to Banega, Mata or Maduro collided with a controversial decision: to put aside veterans such as Albelda or Cañizares.

The results did not come and this, together with the previous decisions, turned Valencianism against him. Winning the Cup against Getafe (3-1) did not serve to put the revenge on a course in which he dangerously flirted with relegation and, in April 2008, after a blushing 5-1 in San Mamés, he was dismissed. David Albelda does not forget that course and recently made it clear: “I would not shake hands with Koeman, I am not sympathetic.”

Failure in an AZ champion

A little over a year later, The good memory left in his country opened the doors of the AZ Alkmaar. Thus, in 2009 he would reach a club that had just been league champion. However, the bad streak of Valencia was extended to the northern team and in December, with the team in sixth position in the league, last in their Champions group and 16 points from TwenteA surprising leader at the time, he was sacked for the second time in his career.

After the recovery, Everton arrived

It was not until 2011 when his return to the ring took place, again in the Netherlands. This time, I would take a Feyenoord coming from a tenth place and make him runner-up. In Rotterdam, Koeman was once again the winner and in 2014, after another runner-up, The opportunity to train in the Premier would come to him: he signed for Southampton.

The Saints they were a poisoned apple, since Pochettino had left a very sweet aftertaste in the entity. However, Koeman knew how to take the helm. The first round rubbed shoulders with the greats and finished fourth. In the second, despite losing steam and finishing seventh, he left a good taste in his mouth that he would confirm the following year, when he would sign a sixth place that was worth the Soton play the Europa League next year.

His successes once again made him a well-regarded technician and Everton emptied their pockets to get him: they paid more than six million euros for his signing in 2016. It followed a script similar to the one lived in the south of England. Sparkling start, like sparkling, it ran out of gas until it was seventh. The following summer there was strong investment from Toffees to palliate Lukaku’s goodbye, but Koeman did not hit the key and would be fired in October 2017, with the team in danger of relegation to the Championship.. That would be his last experience at the preBarça club level, since his position as coach of the Netherlands, where he did succeed, acted as a bridge.