Barcelona president Joan Laporta talks post-Koeman sacking

Barcelona fell on their knees against Rayo Vallecano on Wednesday, losing 1-0 courtesy of a first-half goal. Joan Laporta considered it enough and pulled the plug on Ronald Koeman’s stint as Barcelona manager, with the official announcement of the sacking coming a few hours later after the FT whistle.

Barcelona B manager Sergi Barjuan has taken over as the head coach of Barcelona before the club appoints a permanent manager, rumoured to be Xavi. Barjuan’s first opponent comes in the form of Deportivo Alaves on Saturday, with the Spaniard sitting down with President Laporta to address the press.

Laporta addressed Koeman’s sacking and the appointment of Barjuan first, saying, “Sergi temporarily leaves Barça B and assumes the leadership of the first team. We value his decision very much because he is a club man and has experience. He deserves all our trust.”

He then went on to thank Koeman for taking over at an uncertain time for Barcelona: “We dismissed Koeman after the Rayo Vallecano game. We are very grateful to him because he arrived at a time of maximum difficulty and he is a club person. He is a Barça great, and he’ll always be in Barça’s memory.”

That said, Laporta was clear that not sacking him would have probably done more damage than keeping him in charge for a while longer: “The situation was untenable and we thought that if we didn’t act, we would reduce our intention to fight for the titles.”

The president then went to talk about the importance of the ‘Barça way’ and how Barjuan perfectly fits that philosophy.

“We are focused on the short and long-term. Sergi assumes the responsibility now, he perfectly understands our philosophy. Today we are hopeful and excited,”

“Sergi knows this squad in depth, he will be able to work with it normally. The football department is working on several options. We don’t want to do it in a hurry,” he continued.

The obvious question from the press was who would be the next manager and whether it is Xavi. Laporta replied, “Xavi? I will keep the options we have for myself. We would not act like professionals and it could harm us.”

Laporta continued to talk about the legendary midfielder, saying, “My opinion of Xavi? Xavi is in a very interesting process, evolving very well, I have very good references. I speak with him very often, I have a healthy relationship with him, and I know his opinion about the team and what he thinks should be done.”

With the press constantly asking Laporta about Xavi’s appointment, he dropped a significant hint, suggesting that it could happen sooner than later.

“Xavi? We have very good reports from him and all the inputs that come to us are positive.”

In the past, Barcelona’s board has proven to be incompetent when communicating sackings. Laporta, however, clarified that their relationship with Koeman was not hurt:

“The relationship with Koeman is good, for our part. We communicate to him with all due respect, I suppose he saw the effort we made by giving him confidence and he understands that this is the law of football.”

Fans had been calling for Koeman’s head for weeks, but Laporta refused to fold earlier. He talked about the same, admitting that they had (probably) delayed it a bit too long.

“Koeman’s dismissal? Maybe it should have been done earlier but then we thought Koeman deserved that margin of confidence. I take responsibility for this decision.”

He promised that the new manager would have the board’s undying support, just like Koeman did, and now Barjuan does.

“The new coach, like Sergi now, will have the full support of the club. Now Sergi has our support, he is a brave coach who will continue as long as it takes and we will see how it will go.”

Laporta ended his press conference talking about ‘the new manager’ and how the fans might be misdirected by the media and their cries of Xavi.

“As much as all the media talk about Xavi, but it has not been decided yet. There are also other options apart from Xavi.”

Source: BarçaTV+