Before getting elected as the president, Joan Laporta promised that he would restore the lost glory of the club and most importantly would look to persuade Lionel Messi to stay at Barcelona. So far, the Spaniard has failed to deliver his promises at the club.
His promise to retain Messi was short-lived as we saw the Argentinian ace leave the Camp Nou due to “financial and structural obstacles”.Many believe that the Ballon D’Or winner could have been retained if the club had made more adjustments in their wage bill. But the truth is Barcelona were never financially sound to employ the services of their club legend.
Now life after the ‘Post-Messi’ era was expected to be harsh for Barcelona. The club knew it. Even the fans knew it. In order to smoothen the transitional phase, the Catalans brought in some quality attackers to their roster. Hence, the club went on to spend a small portion of their finances on attackers like Memphis Depay, Sergio Aguero and a backup striker in the form of Luuk De Jong.
Truthfully, I feel Barcelona have a good squad to compete with the elite clubs of Europe. However, the club does not have a charismatic coach in its ranks to lead them through this crisis period. Yes, Ronald Koeman is not the right person to guide them through this chaotic phase.
Koeman’s presence has made things worse at Barcelona
In the ongoing season, the Dutchman has looked ‘clueless’ in his managerial decisions, and there have been times where he has simply failed to meet the expectations of the fans. Losses to Bayern and Benfica were a big eye-opener for the fans as they started to sense that the former Everton man does not have the mettle to succeed at Camp Nou.
And of late, there have been plenty of rumours regarding Koeman facing the sack at Barca. Although these speculations were put to bed after Joan Laporta had confirmed that he is not looking to sack the manager and hence is ready to give more time to the present boss.
This might be good news for Koeman, but at the same time, it is nothing but another bad call taken by the club hierarchy. I strongly feel that choosing a new solid candidate for the managerial position would have made more sense for the team, given the fact that they have already to slumped to new lows in the first quarter of the new season.
Laporta has to take some decisive calls for Barcelona…
Right now, the first important thing on the Catalan agenda should be to find an able replacement for Koeman. With their Champions League campaign already in jeopardy, it would be foolish for the club to simply wait and let things take an ugly turn. Also, a couple of right decisions could help the club move in the right direction. To give a fair assessment of the current situation, Barca are stuck in a rut, and hence sacking Koeman could just be their only way out of this mess.
Did Laporta do the right thing by backing Koeman?