Ronald Koeman sacked as Barcelona manager, Xavi eyed as a top pick

Following Wednesday's 1-0 loss to Rayo Vallecano in La Liga, Barcelona confirmed that Ronald Koeman had been fired as first-team head coach. After 14 months in command, Koeman exits with a 67-game record of 39 victories, 12 draws, and 16 losses. Last season, Koeman won the 2021 Copa del Rey and finished third in La Liga, but Barça was knocked out of the Champions League Round of 16 by Paris Saint-Germain.

Despite predictions that he would leave once Joan Laporta was elected president in the summer, Koeman stayed and guided Barça to an unblemished start to the league season after six games. However, the Dutchman was no longer capable of holding his position following a pair of 3-0 losses to Bayern Munich and Benfica, as well as only 15 points from the first ten games in La Liga, including a loss at home to Real Madrid in El Clásico followed by a poor performance away to newly-promoted Rayo.

Barça will now begin the search for a new manager, with club legend Xavi Hernández apparently ready to accept an offer to quit his current post at Al-Sadd in Qatar right now. Other options reported are Antonio Conte, Erik Ten Hag of Ajax, and Belgium manager Roberto Martnez, and the new coach should be announced within the next few days.

However, according to the same sources, Barca will not have a replacement until after the November international break. The next three games against Alaves, Dynamo Kiev, and Celta Vigo will be managed by an interim coach.

After a string of disappointing performances leading up to the October international break, Koeman's position was severely damaged, with back-to-back defeats against Real Madrid and Rayo this week proving to be the breaking point.

The club said in a statement: "FC Barcelona has relieved Ronald Koeman of his duties as first-team coach. The president of the club, Joan Laporta, informed him of the decision after the defeat against Rayo Vallecano.

FC Barcelona has relieved Ronald Koeman of his duties as first team coach

— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) October 27, 2021

"Koeman will say goodbye to the squad on Thursday at the Ciutat Esportiva. FC Barcelona wishes to thank him for his service to the club and wishes him all the best in his professional career."

In his 17 years as a senior player, Xavi won a plethora of trophies with Barcelona, including eight LaLiga crowns and four Champions League wins. He later joined Al Sadd in 2015, and after retiring from football in 2019, he became the head coach of the Qatari club. So far, it's his sole managerial experience.

In the summer, Laporta pondered firing Koeman and even informed him he needed two weeks to find a new manager. Laporta ultimately decided to continue with Koeman owing to a lack of genuine options.

According to insiders, former Netherlands manager Koeman was angered by Laporta's conduct, and their relationship has never been the same since.

Despite this, after Benfica's 3-0 Champions League defeat in Lisbon last month, Laporta granted Koeman a stay of execution. Barca, on the other hand, has fallen in the league to Atletico Madrid, Real Madrid, and now Rayo.

"It's not ideal to be ninth in LaLiga," Koeman said after Radamel Falcao's goal doomed Barcelona to a defeat at Vallecas on Wednesday, with Memphis Depay missing a penalty.

"It demonstrates that the team's level has deteriorated in terms of squad balance. We've lost a number of guys who were really effective in the last third. I believe the best teams have strengthened in recent years, whereas we have not been able to do so. That is significant.

"But not today, because despite missing players we played well, but you can't say that when you don't score, not in Spain."

Asked if the result placed his job in danger, hours before he was fired, Koeman said "I don't know."

After Barcelona's 8-2 loss to Bayern Munich in the Champions League in August 2020, former president Josep Maria Bartomeu nominated Koeman to replace Quique Setien.

He resigned his employment in the Netherlands, paying the compensation to the Dutch Football Association out of his own pocket, to pursue what he described as his "dream job."

He guided Barca to the Copa del Rey and a third-place finish in LaLiga in his first and only full season in command. They were ousted from the Champions League in the round of 16 by Paris Saint-Germain.

Koeman's stint on the Camp Nou bench has been marred by troubles on and off the pitch, despite scoring the winning goal in the 1992 European Cup final as a player for Barca, earning him legendary status at the club.

Long-term injuries to Ansu Fati, Ousmane Dembele, Philippe Coutinho, and Sergio Aguero, among others, have restricted his team selections, and the club has had to drastically cut its pay bill to deal with its financial woes throughout his tenure.

After the 8-2 loss to Bayern, Luis Suarez, Arturo Vidal, and Ivan Rakitic all left, with Lionel Messi and Antoine Griezmann following suit this summer.

In recent weeks, Koeman has bemoaned the departure of star player Lionel Messi. He claimed the Argentina international was responsible for masking many of the team's shortcomings and improving the players around him.

Because the club's debt has reached over €1.4 billion, Koeman has had his hands bound in terms of replacing them. All of the newcomers this summer, including Memphis and Aguero, were signed as free agents.

Koeman, on the other hand, had turned to youth. Last season, Ronald Araujo, Oscar Mingueza, and Pedri all broke through, while this season, Alejandro Balde, Gavi, Nico Gonzalez, and Yusuf Demir have all been given opportunities.

Koeman has coached in the Netherlands, Portugal, England, and Spain to varying degrees of success since retiring in 1997. He won two Dutch crowns with Ajax Amsterdam and did well at Southampton, but he failed to live up to expectations at Valencia and Everton.