Part of the content of the half-hour meeting held by Joan Laporta and Ronald Koeman on Tuesday is already beginning to be filtered, in which the sports vice president, Rafa Yuste, the football director, Mateu Alemany, and the agent of the Dutch coach, Rob Jansen.
As revealed by TV3, the Blaugrana president told Koeman that they were looking for a replacement because he considered it a “sine qua non” condition to start a new project. In fact, he acknowledged that they would start a market survey in the next few days in search of a substitute on the bench, reaching a new appointment within fifteen days. in the event that they have not been able to close an agreement with any of the candidates. In other words, the only open door that Koeman has today to continue at Barcelona and fulfill his contract year is that Barcelona cannot find a suitable candidate to start the new project.
As reported by this medium, Koeman left the meeting very disappointed and visibly upset at feeling like the second course and practically the last option. The Dutch coach considers that he is being disrespected and that a Blaugrana myth like him does not deserve such a lack of tact from the new management.
On the other hand, the words of his agent to the newspaper 'De Telegraaf' in which he claimed to have left the meeting with “good feelings”, is now understood rather as ironic or as a signal to the club that his client will not forgive not one euro of the almost 8 million it has as compensation.
Among the possible substitutes that Barcelona has to relieve Koeman, the option that is still on the table and is marking the president's agenda and the internal debates within the club is the current Al Sadd coach, Xavi Hernández. Some consider that his inexperience and friendship with some heavyweights could weigh down his decisions, while others see him as the safest bet for the Blaugrana DNA and the only one that would guarantee them a return to the footballing essence of FC Barcelona.