LaLiga English

Koenan in, Setien and Abidal out? Just another one of Bartomeu’s desperate chessboard moves to stall his own inevitable checkmate.

Another day, another sacking at Barcelona. So what’s new?

After all this is what’s to be expected as a heavily-besieged Bartomeu is now clutching at straws in a desperate sinking bid looking for instant fixes to save his own hide and looking for fall guys is about the only alternative he has, despite Messi baying for his blood with the latent, undercurrent recrimination that the incumbent Blaugrana president has long been the prime motivator and perpetrator behind the machiavellian moves behind the scenes in the boardroom causing the entire Barcelona debacle since he took over the reins at the Barca hierarchy.

Installing Ronald Koeman as a brick into the crumbling Barcelona foundation now or even Xavi are definitely not the solutions – Bartomeu himself resigning with immediate effect and getting Neymar back ASAP at all costs are.

Koeman is only but inheriting an ageing, mentally fragile squad with hardly the propensity to spend to recruit fresh talents to reinvigorate their flailing squad and bolster the football genius of Messi, as the Argentine maestro himself is aware that one man alone does not a full squad make, as has been clearly evidenced by the catastrophic defeat and humiliation the Barca giants experienced at the hands of an indomitable aggressor functioning with total well-oiled efficiency and clinical precision as Bayern Munich did with every cog in the machinery functioning perfectly.

Sporting director Eric Abidal is the latest casualty to fall on his own sword, leaving the Catalan club just a day after coach Quique Setien was given his marching orders, which again was only to be expected being only at best a mid-level coach without the big trophies-winning experience, credentials nor hutzpah to match. Just another fumbling foot soldier on Bartomeu’s chessboard.

The president, squirming in desperation, had said ‘decisions would be made’ in light of Barca’s humiliating Champions League loss to Bayern Munich last Friday, but a statement on Monday claimed restructuring would take place with the aid of the current technical department headed by Koenan with Messi as the centrepiece of the squad rebuilding. This in itself makes for great laughs as Messi had always been the main cog in the entire Barca machinery and if he isn’t the centrepiece around whom the entire squad revolves, then who else would be?

One of Bartomeu’s first decisions, if he indeed truly has the love and passion he professes for the club, should’ve been to resign and take himself out of the Barca equation, but instead, he makes a paltry concession of bringing forward next year’s presidential elections by four months, with himself still at the helm.

Would Messi accept this paltry gesture after having declared that if the board doesn’t leave, then he will? Harsh words spoken out of anger and frustration, but from the mouth of the GOAT himself, definitely not words spoken recklessly without having been carefully thought over. And coming from Messi, definitely not an empty bluff meant to scare Bartomeu, but a serious challenge.

In that respect, Abidal’s exit is in no way a surprise but only the sacrificing of a mere pawn in the hands of the great humpty-dumpty Bartomeu in stalling his own inevitable checkmate.

The former France left-back deservedly paid the price for a string of sub-standard signings in recent years, which has to be acknowledged to be a significant factor in the team’s decline, laid bare to the bones for all to see in the final 8-2 demolition at the hands of Bayern.

Abidal’s departure is essentially nothing more than a decision aimed at placating captain Lionel Messi, who had been left with no alternative but to hit out at his former team-mate in January over claims some ‘senior’ players were not getting along with Valverde and had not been training properly during final months at Camp Nou, with the main finger-pointing indirectly aimed at Messi himself being the power in the dressing room. Abidal is just paying the price for having been complicit in the president’s politics and shenanigans.

Either way, the Frenchman has been made a convenient fall guy after the departures of fellow fall guys Valverde and then Setien, who was in charge for only half a season at the Catalan club. What Barcelona need now are not fall guys but a total revamp, beginning from the boardoom itself with the one man who is still standing, evidently not so upright, in the fray.

Bartomeu may have brought forward the presidential elections to March after Monday’s meeting with his board, but is still puckering up his lips, determined to stay in charge for as long as he can. And this is what will further infuriate Messi.

Part of the reason the president cannot vacate his seat now is for the need to balance the books before a new mandate is eventually announced and also to probably prepare a ‘continuity’ candidate from the current board as he reaches the end of his second term. Would he so easily just hand over the reins to the next incoming president without first doing all he can to try in some manner, realistic or otherwise to ensure he still has some backroom control over the club in future? Not likely.

In the meantime, Barca are desperate to cut their wage bill – which is notably the highest in world football – this summer and all but a few players will be available for the right price.

However, the debilitating financial effects of the Covid-19 pandemic mean most of them will be difficult to be shifted out for a rebuilding project now with currently no funds available.

In short, all of that only means that it is an unenviable task for the next coach stepping in to replace Setien. Not only will the new boss be inheriting an ageing squad with a mentally fragile disposition, but a despondent legacy with limited money available, not to mention the real threat of losing his job when another president is elected in 2021. It is, as the board’s top target Xavi said last week, ‘not the time’ to coach Barca.

So who would want this Barca job?

Ronald Koeman does. The Dutchman is wholly agreeable to the proposition.

The Netherlands coach has never made secret his ambition to coach Barca and is prepared to lose his prestigious post as the Dutch national team boss in order to fulfil his lofty dream.

But Koeman, probably like Setien in January, is well aware that this may well be his only opportunity and is ready to accept the challenge come hell or high water.

Unfortunately a Barca legend only from his playing days, the 57-year-old’s coaching career is hardly spectacular but merely mediocre to say the least – despite having some measure of moderate success in his native homeland, having won the Copa del Rey at Valencia, but in the process almost dismantling the whole team in a dismal run of results in LaLiga. Then at Everton, he was dismissed after a lamentable second season.

Koenan’s immaculate playing days are long since over and have since only been replaced by an underwhelming managerial career.

Aside from being a Nations League runner up whilst managing the Dutch national side, it is to be noted that he hasn’t won a trophy since 2009 when in charge of AZ, and even then it was only the Johan Cruyff Shield.

His last league title was the 2006/07 Eredivisie with PSV, and in his 19 years as a manager (not including his stints as an assistant), he’s had nine jobs.

Besides not having been known to be at one place very long, of more significance is his style of football which was uninspiring particularly at Everton and certainly not the type with the flourish to get the Barca fans’ juices flowing.

With numerous stories abounding of clashes with young and senior stars, Koenan’s appointment would in reality not bode well as he prepares to work with some of the biggest stars in world football, besides being charged with the tall order of restoring faith in the club’s La Masia academy.

Questionably, the Dutchman is not joining Barca for all the right reasons the Blaugrana needs and is definitely not at the required level to coach the Catalan club. Bartomeu’s Barcelona are a club in chaos and he does not look like the man who can revive their ailing fortunes.

After Barcelona’s senseless bludgeoning at the hands of Bayern Munich last Friday, it was only a matter of time before Quique Setien was dispensed with as coach of the Blaugranes.

In much the same way that Setien only arrived because Xavi and Koeman himself turned the job down in January, the Dutchman enters the fray and rejoins the club because Xavi still doesn’t feel the time is right and Mauricio Pochettino clearly couldn’t bring himself to commit.

Given that any new presidential incumbent is likely to want to bring in his own coach, Koeman will have about a year to bring about success to the side he served so well when a member of the Dream Team.

Koeman may not even have the luxury of having to make a good impression at the club. At the end of it all, these measures implemented in desperation by Bartomeu are only for the short term for as long as Messi is willing to tolerate them. And judging by his latest statements, it would appear he’s unlikely to indulge the incumbent president’s shenanigans any longer.

The Argentine wizard and Barcelona talisman is now indeed playing the toughest match in his star-studded career. Don’t be surprised to see Lionel Messi calling Bartomeu’s bluff in the following days.