Barely arrived at FC Barcelona, Ronald Koeman was faced with a very hot issue this summer: managing the real-false start of Lionel Messi. The six-fold Golden Ball, engaged in an arm wrestling with Josep Maria Bartomeu, had informed his leaders that he intended to change clubs. Announced in particular in Manchester City, where he would have found Pep Guardiola, the 33-year-old Argentine genius had finally backed down and decided to stay in Catalonia so as not to attack Barça in court. In a long interview given this Saturday to the Dutch daily Algemeen Dagblad, Koeman recounted how he experienced this period.
“It became clear that there was great dissatisfaction among the players, in all kinds of areas. So it was a priority for me to talk to Messi first, to hear how he saw things. ‘told all kinds of things. I listened carefully, I also told him that I was not there before. I could only tell him how I wanted to work and how I wanted to change things. It was good because at the end of our conversation, we really talked about football, ”he recalled. The former Netherlands manager, named to replace Quique Setién, has always been convinced that Messi will stay.
“He couldn’t leave”
“The club were very clear they couldn’t leave. The clause (700 million euros) was so high that no club was going to pay it at that time. So for me the main question was how to get him back to the pitch, as a person and as a footballer. When he started training again after a hectic week, I saw only good things in his attitude. and there is nothing to complain about. What is great is that when Messi sees a ball, he has fun, ” said Koeman, who has been using it since the start of the season in a role of wrong number nine, with Philippe Coutinho just behind him.
The question of Messi’s future will arise again in the coming weeks since his contract expires in June 2021.
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