Barcelona considered La Liga manager as a replacement for Ronald Koeman in 2021

Even though Ronald Koeman led Barcelona to the Copa del Rey trophy in his first season as manager in 2020/21, there were a lot of doubts about his continuity that summer.

Indeed, there was a presidential change in March 2021, with Joan Laporta winning the elections and the Barça chief was unsure about the Dutch tactician as the man to lead the team forward.

In fact, the same was conveyed to Koeman in the summer of 2021, even though Barcelona won the cup and the club even looked at several possible options to replace him.

Imanol Alguacil was seen as a replacement candidate

Now, according to Ferran Correas of SPORT, Barcelona considered Real Sociedad manager Imanol Alguacil as one of the candidates to replace Ronald Koeman during the summer of 2021.

The 52-year-old Spanish tactician has been in charge at La Real for almost five years now, having taken over the reins in December 2018.

During his time at the club, Alguacil has transformed Real Sociedad into one of the top-six teams in La Liga and even led them to the Copa del Rey triumph during the 2019/20 season, while helping them qualify for the UEFA Champions League for the current campaign.

His side’s style of play has been widely appreciated and that is what put him on the radars of Barcelona when they sought out replacements for Koeman in the summer of 2021.

However, the Blaugrana administration decided to stick with the club legend, only to sack him a few months into the 2021/22 campaign, with Xavi Hernandez taking over from him.

Less than a week ago, Imanol Alguacil’s Real Sociedad pushed Barcelona to the brink in La Liga, but the Catalans managed to escape with a lucky 1-0 win thanks to a stoppage-time winner from Ronald Araujo.