The crisis in Barcelona can claim more victims than just Ronald Koeman, knows Sport. The board of the club does not only want to carry out a cleaning in the technical staff, but also in the player group, it sounds like. Sergio Busquets, Gerard Pique and Jordi Alba are nominated to leave.
Koeman found his Waterloo at Barcelona on Wednesday evening by going down ingloriously against Rayo Vallecano (1-0). The management blames that, according to Sport not only the Dutchman, but certainly also the veterans from the group of players. Busquets led the goal against Barça with loss of ball, with Pique being cut out quite easily by goalscorer Radamel Falcao. There are serious doubts within the management about the sporting performances of Busquets (33), Piqué (34) and also Alba (32), so it sounds.
Barcelona was already open to the departure of the veterans last summer, but that was almost impossible due to their high salaries, even if they were allowed to leave on a free transfer. The trio showed good will by agreeing to a pay cut, but could not remove their doubts in the sporting field in recent months.
Busquets and Piqué have been playing in the Barcelona first team since 2008, Alba was added in 2012. Busquets and Pique have won the Champions League three times with Barca, Alba only being there the last time in 2015. The trio also has ongoing contracts: Busquets is fixed until mid-2023, Piqué and Alba another year longer.
Incidentally, Barcelona are about to present Xavi as the successor to Ronald Koeman. According to Sport there is already an agreement in principle with the former midfielder and his departure from Al-Sadd is currently being negotiated. ESPN reports that Alfred Schreuder, Koeman’s assistant coach, has collected his things on Thursday and is also leaving Barcelona. The same goes for Henrik Larsson, Koeman’s other assistant.