Barcelona reconnects with Dutch football.
The Spanish national team officially announced Ronald Koeman as their new coach on Wednesday, a day after the club’s president, Josep Bartomeu, said that the Dutchman had accepted the training offered and that the main points had to be resolved.
“Today is a day to be satisfied and proud,” Koeman said after passing through Bartomeu. “Everyone knows what Barca is to me. This is my house.”
Koeman returned to the club where he prospered as a defender with the great Dutchman Johan Cruyff in the early 1990s. He was the winner of Koeman’s last overtime against Sampdoria at Wembley Stadium which gave Barcelona its first European name almost 3 decades ago.
“The Blaugrana legend, Wembley’s hero, the guy who gave Barca his first European Cup win is back at Camp Nou,” Barcelona said after signing a two-year contract with the coach.
Koeman had coached the Dutch national team and had a contract until 2022. He led the team to the position at the time in last year’s First Nations League and hoped to train the team at this year’s European Championships before it was postponed due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
“We’re in it because we know him very well,” Bartomeu told BarcaTV on Tuesday. “We know how you think and how your groups play. We know that he has experience, that he played in Cruyff’s dream team and that he knows Barca and his way of understanding football.”
It was with another Dutch coach, Frank Rijkaard, that Barcelona won their European trophy at the time in 2006. Rijkaard also won two Spanish league titles in his five seasons with the club before being replaced by Pep Guardiola.
“I’m Dutch and we’ve liked the groups that hold the ball and play well,” Koeman said. “There has been a perfect connection to Holland in this club.”
Koeman, 57, began his training career in Barcelona as an assistant to Dutch coach Louis van Gaal in the late 1990s. He had helped Barcelona win four consecutive Spanish league titles before retiring as a player.
Koeman, a key player for the Netherlands, helped him win the 1988 European Championships and compete in the 1990 and 1994 World Cups.
Koeman’s arrival comes five days after the team’s humiliating 8-2 loss to Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarter-finals. He replaced the laid-back Quique Setién, who added 25 games in the draw after succeeding Ernesto Valverde in January.
“We’ll have to replace things,” Koeman said. “We don’t need the symbol of what happened the other day. We’ll have to paint hard to repair our prestige. We’re still the biggest club in the world.”
Barcelona has just had one of its most disappointing seasons, the first with a significant name since 2007-08. He announced “profound changes” to the first team and a “large-scale” restructuring of the club, with new presidential elections scheduled for March next year.
Amid doubts about Messi’s future, Koeman said he hoped Argentina would remain formidable.
“I need you to tell me what you think, ” said Koeman. “I don’t think I have to convince him. It would be glorious to paint with him because he beats you.
Without reference to Messi, who still has one year of contract left, Koeman said he was only looking for players committed to his team.
“I just need to paint with players who need to be here,” he said. “Those who are not happy can contact the club. I just need to paint with other people who are willing to do their thing for Barcelona.
Bartomeu said Barcelona was interested in hiring Koeman during a coaching update in January, but this was not imaginable because of his commitment to Holland. The president said Koeman was able to settle for the position now, as there was more time before foreign competitions resumed, which made it less difficult for the Dutch federation to upgrade it.
The Dutch women’s team will lose their coach, with the announcement this week that Sarina Wiegman will leave after next year’s Olympic Games to take the lead in England.
Koeman has coached in the past in the Premier League, the Spanish League, the Dutch League and the Portuguese League.
“The Dutchman brings more than 20 years of delight as a coach and 8 trophies on his résumé,” Barcelona said.
His first head coaching role with Vitesse in 2000, and he also worked with Ajax, Benfica, PSV Eindhoven and Valencia, among other clubs. Before taking over from the Dutch team, he trained Southampton and Everton in England.
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