Òscar Grau closes the signing of Ronald Koeman in the Netherlands

Òscar Grau, CEO of Barça, closed last night in Amsterdam the signing of Ronald Koeman (Zaandam, Netherlands, 3-21-1963), the hero of the Wembley final in 1992. In principle, the idol of a generation of Barcelona fans will sign, Like Setién, a contract until 2022, with the option to be cut in June 2021 after the elections, and he will resign his status as Dutch coach.

Barça player between 1989 and 1995, champion of everything with the Barça club, especially four consecutive leagues and a European Cup, Tintin has been a coach for 20 years. After being an assistant to the Dutch national team and Barça, Koeman has amassed a very long career. He has trained Vitesse, Ajax, Benfica, PSV, Valencia, AZ, Feyenoord, Southampton and Everton before fulfilling his dream of leading the three-time runner-up in the world with the aim of lifting the European Championship with the new generation led by De Ligt and De Jong.

Koeman left his mark on his way through Valencia, where he separated Cañizares, Albelda and Angulo from the team. To the first, at 38 years old, he said on his birthday: “Get yourself a team.” He accused Albelda of not having been a good captain. This is how it satisfied its president, Juan Soler, who did not have the personality to throw out such emblematic players. Then he won the Copa del Rey, but he did not leave a good memory. Many see in this appointment of Koeman a similar attempt by Bartomeu, who believes that in the Dutchman he will find the coach with personality capable of ending the vices of a capricious, aged and indomitable dressing room.

Koeman had already been tested by Barça this January. It was after the dismissal of Valverde and not Xavi. Then, Bartomeu called the Dutchman, who maintained his commitment to the selection to lead it in the Eurocup. The uncertainty with the Covid-19 pandemic, which has the 2021 national team appointment in the air, modulated Koeman's thinking, who did not want to miss the train again. Educated in the Dutch school, raised in Ajax but a successful player at PSV when the ajacied rejected him, Koeman is not a radical of Cruyffismo, but a possibilityist. He played six years at Barça and got to know the club. It is true that it has been almost 20 years without setting foot in a Can Barça dressing room. But Barça is still Barça. And Koeman, an idol in his forties for Barça upwards.

Author of unforgettable goals, not only that of Wembley, also one from a direct free kick in the 5-0 Classic, or a shell that blew up Vitor Baía's net in a Champions League semi-final against Porto in 1994, Koeman is loved by the fans, And respected by the people within the club.

Recovered from the heart attack he suffered on May 3 after riding a bike with a friend (his central coronary artery had been blocked and the other had a narrowing), the club will closely monitor his health. In fact, his father died of cardiac arrest and his brother Erwin, also a great footballer of the 80s, was subjected to a catheterization last June. From the outside, and without knowing that he would go to Barça, Koeman warned months ago that the renewal in the team was necessary. It is his turn.