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Ronald Koeman is expected to become Barcelona’s new coach and will count on Lionel Messi as a “pillar” of his new project, club president Josep Bartomeu said on Tuesday.
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Bartomeu said in an interview with Barca TV that negotiations with the Dutchman are advanced but a deal has yet to be signed.
“If there is no change, we will announce Koeman as our next coach, and he will lead this team and these players forward with a different kind of project, led by a manager that all Barca fans know “said Bartomeu.
The announcement comes four days after the team’s humiliating 8-2 loss to Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarter-finals.
Bartomeu also addressed the future of star striker Messi, who made a frustrated figure in the loss to the Germans.
“Messi wants to end his Barca career, he has said this on several occasions. I spoke to Koeman about him and he told me that Messi will be the mainstay of his project,” Bartomeu said.
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Sid Lowe gives his opinion on reports that Ronald Koeman will be named next Barcelona manager
“Messi has a contract with Barca until 2021. I speak regularly with him and his father, and they know that we have a solid project, that a new coach is coming and that he will count on him.”
Koeman’s impending arrival will be the third phase of a club restructuring that began with Quique Setien’s sacking on Monday and continued on Tuesday as sporting director Eric Abidal agreed to terminate his contract.
As a player, Koeman helped Barcelona clinch their first European title by scoring an extra-time winner in a final almost two decades ago, and now the former defender is set to return to try to get out. the club from its current crisis.
Koeman, 57, had been in charge of the Dutch national team since 2018 and had a contract that would end after the 2022 World Cup.
Information from the Associated Press and Reuters was used in this report.
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