Barcelona sack Ronald Koeman, eye Xavi as replacement

Ronald Koeman's reigns as Barcelona boss has come to an end, the club is looking in the directions of Xavi as replacement, will that change their fortunes? (Photo credit: Sky Sports)

News broke out late on Wednesday that Barcelona have parted ways with Dutchman Ronald Koeman after the club legend led them to yet another uninspiring defeat in the hands of lowly rated Rayo Vallecano.

It was always inevitable and you can even argue that the club endured with the former Everton and Southampton man, it was one loss too many and the club was certainly regressing under him, you’d like to ask, will this change the fortunes of the Catalan side?

Koeman took the Barcelona job at a very odd time, unlucky to witness the exit of Lionel Messi and he couldn’t do much about it. Club president Juan Laporta acted in the wake of the embarrassing loss to Rayo, their first loss to the club in well over two decades.

You’d wonder why Barcelona left it so late before firing the Dutchman, they didn’t want to pay the severance due to him and most ex-players wouldn’t understand why they settled for such double standards considering how it ended with the famous Argentine;

Barcelona refused to take the gamble on Messi staying because they want to preserve the values of the club as well as protect the future, but they endured with Koeman who was doing every damage he could to the present.

From tactics to game management, you could tell there was a gap in communication and it wasn’t looking like it would get better soon. Most people were left jaw down when Koeman deployed Sergio Araujo and Pique upfront and was spamming opposition area with crosses to claw a point, disgraceful.

The limp loss to Real Madrid in the El Classico was meant to be the final straw as it was probably the first game of such that Barcelona didn’t compete at any point, the fire in the club was out and the ashes was getting blown away, the club had to act.

Moving forward it looks like the club is looking in the directions of another ex-player and this time in the very recent sphere in the person of Xavi, currently in the Middle East doing his thing and you’d wonder if he wants to inherit such mess.

Xavi Hernandes is the head coach of Al Saad in Saudi Arabia, he has transformed the club and they now have an identity that fans are proud of, if he agrees to rejoin his old club the task would be to immediately halt the rot, does he have the material to achieve this?

While sources have confirmed that Barcelona will open talks with Xavi on Friday, same sources report that the club isn’t expected to announce Koeman’s replacement until after the November international break with an interim coach set to take charge till then.

Barcelona have lost three out of their last four games, Koeman is history both as a player and as a manager, but where do the emerging kids go from here?