President Joan Laporta appears to have listened to fans and pundits alike. In a fashion.
Disgusted by the club’s continued fall from grace which has seen them lose their opening two Champions League games by a margin of 6-0, while mustering only one victory in five fixtures across all competitions against winless Levante, many made the demand that Koeman not continue a day longer at the helm as FC Barcelona head coach.
It is said that Laporta headed to the dressing room after the latest humiliation – a 3-0 loss to Benfica – to rally the deflated troops and vowed, whether to them or in private, that he would not make any hot-headed decisions.
Yet a meeting went on until 4AM with his partners with another sitdown taking place in the Catalan capital yesterday afternoon.
It is reported that Laporta has already made his mind up on the fate of the legend of ’92, who once again has showed a lack of tactical nous to match the poor work he did at the likes of Everton and Valencia and is perhaps only in this job on the merit of having scored the winning goal in a final against Sampdoria at Wembley in the mentioned year that handed the Blaugrana their first UCL crown.
In short, Koeman’s dismissal is now “irreversible” and a matter of “when”, not “if”, in regards to whether he receives his marching papers or not.
Suspended from the dugout for the match in any event, following his red card against Levante, the Dutchman will in essence lead Barca just one last time against Atletico Madrid tomorrow before being fired, with a replacement found and announced during the international break before a General Assembly of members is held on October 17.
This could be Andrea Pirlo, Xavi Hernandez or Roberto Martinez – but River Plate’s Marcelo Gallardo has also had his hat thrown into the ring.
Not willing to terminate his contract early with the Argentina giants, Gallardo is however a free man as of January 1 meaning a caretaker manager from one of the youth categories should be put in Koeman’s place if this is an avenue that Laporta wishes to pursue.
Source:Operanewsapp.com