Barcelona –
Barcelona heavily linked with Dutch players, shortly after arrival Ronald Koeman. The 57-year-old coach failed to make Blaugrana feel Oranje.
Koeman was appointed coach of Barcelona this summer. He replaced Quique Setien, who fired management.
At the start of his arrival, Koeman immediately overhauled the squad. Some of the players he targeted were mostly Dutch players, whom he previously coached in the national team.
Among them are Georginio Wijnaldum from Liverpool and Memphis Depay from Lyon. Koeman also admitted that, after failing to find his target players.
“Day [Wijnaldum] is on my list, “Koeman told NOS.
“We hope to have a second Dutch player in the squad,” explained the former Barcelona player, commenting on Depay.
Long before the Koeman era, Barcelona itself was linked with many Dutch players. One of them is a defender Matthijs de Ligt, who ultimately failed to be recruited because they preferred to play together Juventus in the Italian League.
However, Koeman denied that he wanted to make Barcelona feel like the Dutch national team. He refused his team to be equated with the Barcelona era Louis van Gaal in 1997-2000 and 2002-2003.
“That’s too extreme. Back then [era Van Gaal] there are eight or nine players. Now, we only have De Jong and Alfred Schreuder on the coaching staff with me, “he said.
In the end, Barcelona only signed Miralem Pjanic and Sergino Dest, as well as several young players such as Francisco Trincao, Pedri, and Matheus Fernandes and sent home Philippe Coutinho from Bayern Munich.
As for Barcelona, it actually released some of its stars. Among them Arthur Melo, Ivan Rakitic, Arturo vidal, Nelson Semedo, until Luis Suarez.
Watch Video “Memphis Depay Becomes Victim of PHP Barcelona“
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