Report: The huge cost of sacking Ronald Koeman

Ronald Koeman’s first (and possibly last) season at Barcelona has seen an immeasurable number of crests and troughs. Consistency has been hard to come by for the Dutchman; evolving tactics, player injuries, defensive dearths have all either haunted or blessed him in his first season here.

Koeman is a club legend through and through. His free-kick goal was the European Cup-winning strike in 1991, which gave Barça their first-ever European title. In addition, he left his comfortable job as Netherlands National Team coach to join Barça in their worst period in recent history.

However, his tactical deficiencies have led to the Catalonians handing La Liga away, and club president Joan Laporta feels unsatisfied, even though he is grateful, with Koeman’s work. But firing the Dutchman will be no easy task for the Blaugranas, as a recent report from Sport outlines that the cost of giving him the sack would be somewhere around €7.5m. Given the club’s dire financial state, this would be another costly affair that could hurt the club.

To his credit, he has done a great job in uplifting the club from the depths of chaos and has actually assembled a rather decent team with a foundation built on several youngsters such as Pedri, Oscar Mingueza, Sergiño Dest, Ronald Araujo, and Frenkie de Jong (among others).

In addition, there are barely any world-class coaches on the market, specifically those who suit Barça’s philosophies and style of play. Xavi Hernandez and Garci Pimienta are frontrunners to take the mantle up from Koeman, but recent reports have outlined that Laporta’s board does not entirely believe in either of the two options.

Given what Koeman has achieved with essentially half the team he desired, as well as his high compensation if he were to be fired, it may be wise to keep the Dutchman on for another season. Perhaps he could potentially achieve better results if given certain crucial cogs in his team, which he has been lacking all season, such as a striker, a left-back, a right-back, a central defender, and potentially even a defensive midfielder.