Koeman Speaks About Life At Barca: Decision On Pedri, Griezmann Unwanted Departure And Youngsters Given An Opportunity

Koeman speaks about life at Barca: former Barcelona manager and club legend talks about his experience with the club before his departure.

Unfortunately, Koeman’s dreams of succeeding as a Barcelona manager never come to pass as the board parted ways with him after a second try.

Koeman speaks about life at Barca

Ronald Koeman former Barca manager: “Time at Barca? It always hurts when you can’t finish what you wanted to finish, the contract or more years.”

“I think that people who know about football, about the club and who know about the economic situation of Barca, believe that I have done a good job for them. I don’t mean a great job, or a bad job. I think it was a good job in a very complicated situation for Barca.”

“Hopefully Barcelona can come back like before. But people who know, know perfectly well that it has been a very complicated situation in which I, as a coach, have done everything for the club and have accepted things from the club to improve its economic situation.”

“To improve the economic stability, I accepted things from the club for the club, like letting Griezmann leave for Atletico Madrid.”

“I have never thought about myself, I always did things for Barca. In the end, in the world you have people for and against you.”

Youngsters given an opportunity

“Young players? I don’t know if we are brave, but we have a habit in Holland, a league where you can learn a lot if you are a young player. It’s not the biggest league but the clubs give the young players time and confidence to grow.”

“We are similar to those clubs in Holland with the young players and I think it’s not a risk, because a 20-year-old can improve and a 32-year-old surely can’t. We have this habit of putting young people.”

“All the youngsters we have given the opportunity to, and the last time it was at Barca with Pedri, Gavi, Nico and some more, it’s because they are talents. They have quality. And with more experience, these types of players are going to improve easily.”

“Age doesn’t count for anything, the quality of the player is the most important thing. Look at Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who has turned 40 and played with me at Ajax.”

“Pedri? In his case, it was impressive because I remember when I signed the contract with Barca and they told me about him, and I didn’t know him. In the first two training sessions I knew he was going to be a great player. I saw enough of Pedri in two training sessions.”

“In the preseason I said that we had to leave Pedri in the team because Barcelona had offers for him to play a year away. But I said ‘Pedri won’t move from here, because I think he’ll soon be a starter’, and that’s how it was.”