Barcelona officially unveiled former player, Ronald Koeman as their new manager, after sacking Quique Setien.
Although the La Liga giants are yet to officially confirm Koeman as their new manager, the club on Wednesday, made a post on their official social media handles welcoming their ‘hero’ back to the club. Also, according to media reports from Spain, the former Everton boss is said to have signed a two-year deal to be the new manager at the club.
Recall we reported that 57-year-old arrived at Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat Airport on Tuesday afternoon and signed a deal that has seen him leave his position as boss of the Dutch national team to take the reins of his former club.
Barcelona dismissed Quique Setien on Monday following Friday night’s humiliating 8-2 defeat to Bayern Munich in the quarter-finals of the Champions League.
Ronald Koeman is returning to Barcelona as their new manager, years after playing for the club. He featured 350 times for the Spanish giants scoring 106 goals and continues to carry his Barcelona affections with him everywhere he goes.
57-year-old even has a personalised ‘BAR’ number plate on his black Bentley Continental to reference his link to the club.
Koeman also spent time as assistant manager to Louis van Gaal between 1998 and 2000 – only increasing his desire to become the main man.
He has previously made no secret of his hopes to return to the team in a managerial capacity, confirming he had a clause inserted in his contract with the Dutch FA that allowed him to move to Barcelona after Euro 2020.
In the end, due to the tournament being delayed because of the Covid-19 pandemic, he never oversaw that campaign.
Koeman arrives back at his old club to pick up a side that has gone trophyless for the first time since 2007-08. But the coming elections could change all this, as some stakeholders prefer another former player, Xavi to Koeman.