'If there was no money for Messi, how did they pay 55 million for Ferran?'

Disappointment and bitterness. Those are the two main feelings after reading Ronald Coeman’s first interview after Barcelona sacking. The Dutchman and former Barca player was sacked five months ago and he finally decided to speak about this experience, as he described as the toughest he faced as a coach. Koeman was appointed in August 2020 and in his first campaign led Barcelona to third place in La Liga and won the Copa del Rey. But he has struggled in his second season following the departure of Lionel Messi.

Even thou he had a number of injured players which made his life at Camp Nou tough, and witnessed the president elections during his tenure, the general feeling is that the Dutchman is not a caliber to be at the bench of this European powerhouse. However, Koeman stated the obvious: new president Joan Laporta didn’t support him.

“You won't see me at Camp Nou for a while, I can't do that yet. With this president I cannot pretend that nothing happened. I was not Laporta's coach. I had that feeling from the first moment, after the elections there was no ‘click’. That necessary support from above was lacking. The important thing was not money for me. I really wanted to succeed as a coach at Barcelona, ​​to do everything I could, but I realized that Laporta wanted to get rid of me because I wasn't appointed by him. He had told me a thousand times that Xavi would not be his coach, because he lacked experience. But he needed a shield, someone to hide behind” revealed Koeman to Dutch newspaper 'Algemeen Dagblad'.

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The Dutch coach also lamented on his short time as a coach, and said that Xavi was given more time than him, even thou he had to deal with a lot of injured players.

“They didn't give me the time they gave the new coach, Xavi. It's still painful for me. I was working with many injured. Now Pedri is back in shape, and Ousmane Dembele... You can see everything. Every coach needs time and patience from the board. I would have liked Ferran Torres, Adama Traore and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang too. But I'm happy for the club, since now things are going better, and for the players. It's nice to see Frenkie de Jong play good old-fashioned football, he has such quality" said the Dutchman.

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Koeman also admitted that he should have thought more about himself and not about the club as he revealed he had to agree to a players sale, but questioned how did they lost Messi and yet signed Ferran for 55 million euros. 

"It was at the insistence of the club management that I agreed to the departure of some players to put the finances in order. But then when you see that they attract someone for 55 million euros shortly after letting Lionel Messi go. Then you wonder if there wasn't something else going on. Why did Messi have to leave?” asked Koeman.