Joan Laporta and Ronald Koeman will meet one of these days to talk about the future, as they know Sport, Onda Cero and RAC1 to report. The Dutch coach has rapidly lost part of his credit at Barcelona, which has now raised doubts about him. RAC1 even puts forward three potential successors, including Ajax coach Erik ten Hag.
However, it is far from self-evident that Barcelona will say goodbye to Koeman at the end of the season. The coach can at least finish the season in Catalonia, which means that he will still be on the bench against Celta de Vigo and Eibar. Barcelona still has a chance to grab the league title, although that possibility has shrunk drastically in the past week. The Catalans themselves lost expensive points on a visit to Levante (3-3), while competitor Atlético Madrid won against Real Sociedad and thus lifted the lead to four points.
Koeman is heavily blamed that Barcelona will probably not be champion. The Spanish sports newspapers calculate that a third place in LaLiga also saves millions compared to the national title, which the Catalans saw slip from the hands due to a defeat against Granada (1-2) and the draw against Levante. Prior to the duel with Levante, it was already heard from Spain that there were internal doubts about Koeman, which would continue if Barcelona did not become champion.
Koeman still has an ongoing contract until mid-2022, which hinders a possible departure. Due to the current financial situation, Barcelona cannot afford to give him a hefty severance payment. Furthermore, Barcelona will first explore its options when it comes to the succession of Koeman. ESPN reported on Wednesday that Barcelona had reported to Hansi Flick in vain. RAC1 puts forward three candidates: Francisco Javier García Pimienta (Barcelona B), Xavi Hernández (Al-Sadd) and Ten Hag (Ajax).
Pimeinta would be a cheap option as he already works at Barcelona. RAC1 knows that Xavi and Ten Hag are more difficult to achieve, as they have both recently renewed their contracts with their current employer. Ten Hag was previously linked to Tottenham Hotspur and is said to have spoken with the English club. Despite the fact that shortly afterwards he extended his contract with Ajax until mid-2023, according to transfer expert Fabrizio Romano, that would not necessarily mean that a switch to Tottenham is completely off the track.
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