'We should have sacked Koeman sooner', admits Barca president
Stefan Bienkowski
- 29 Oct 2021 20:38 BST
- 5 min read
Barcelona president Joan Laporta has admitted that the club should have sacked manager Ronald Koeman sooner than they did.
The Dutch tactician oversaw a dreadful start to the season which saw the Catalan side pick up just five wins in 13 games in all competitions.
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After a 2-1 defeat to Real Madrid in Sunday’s El Clasico, Barcelona then lost 1-0 away to Ray Vallecano and Koeman was shortly sacked after the match.
However, while Laporta has justified his decision to stick by Koeman for so long, he now admits that it would have perhaps made more sense to relinquish him of his duties earlier in the season.
"The decision quite possibly arrived late," Laporta said in a press conference on Friday afternoon. "We should have removed him earlier but it's easier to analyse things with the benefit of hindsight.
"In September [before the international break], when we backed him, we felt he deserved to be shown some confidence and be given the chance to get the injured players back.
"I take responsibility for not making the decision before. We beat Valencia and Dynamo Kiev but then came a series of bad results. We were drifting dangerously and we risked losing touch in all competitions.
"We're grateful to Ronald because he took on the job in a very difficult moment. He's a club man and this will always be his home. For us, he's a Barca legend but if he has not continued in the role, it's because of results.
"The situation was unsustainable and we thought not acting could weaken our chances of achieving our objectives, which are to fight for every trophy."
’One day Xavi will be Barca manager’
On the topic of successor’s to Koeman at the Spanish club, one name stands out among a crowded room of potential contenders: Xavi.
Currently managing at Al Sadd in Qatar, the former Barcelona midfielder is widely expected to pick up the reins at his former club in the coming weeks.
And when asked about the possibility of Xavi taking over, Laporta didn’t exactly go out of his way to deny it.
"I have always said one day [Xavi] will be Barca's head coach but I don't know when," said Laporta.
He added: "We have great references about Xavi at Al Sadd. All our reports about Xavi are positive. We can talk a lot about Xavi, but I cannot give you more details. He is in all the papers, but we also have other options."
