Ex-Barça: Koeman to AZ Alkmaar

Dutch club AZ Alkmaar has earlier this week officially announced the appointment of former Barcelona player Ronald Koeman (46) as their new manager.

Koeman signed a two-year deal with the Dutch champions. Former Barcelona assistant coach Tony Bruins Slot also joins the technical staff of AZ. In april of last year, Koeman had been dismissed as manager of Valencia (read more here).

Ronald Koeman played six seasons for Barcelona, arriving in 1989 from Dutch club PSV Eindhoven and leaving in the summer of 1995 for Dutch club Feyenoord Rotterdam. From the summer of 1998 until the year 2000, he was the assistant coach of Barcelona manager Louis van Gaal.

With Barcelona, Koeman won four consecutive Spanish league titles from 1991 to 1994, a Spanish cup in 1990, three Spanish Super Cups in 1991, 1992 and 1994, one European Super Cup in 1992 and one Champions Leauge in 1992, when he became a Barcelona legend scoring the winning free kick goal that gave Barcelona it's first European Champions Cup. As assistant, he won one league title in 1999.

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Transfer history: Guus Hiddink (PSV Eindhoven)

Barcelona president Joan Laporta has said at a press conference that Chelsea manager Guus Hiddink (52) was one of the candidates to become the new Barcelona head coach in the summer of 2003:

"I've always liked Guus Hiddink for his attitude and his way of being. I remember that, when he was the manager of Valencia, he ordered to withdraw a nazi flag with a swastika sign from the stands.

It's a coach of the Dutch school and a lover of total football. We've always liked him. When we were negotiating with Rijkaard, Hiddink was coaching the national team of South Corea (note: this is not correct, he was the manager of PSV Eindhoven in 2003) and he was one of our options if Rijkaard would have said no."

Catalan sports paper Sport nevertheless claims that Hiddink was actually the preferred option of the new board that came to power after the elections of 2003. Barcelona sports director Txiki Begiristain and then Barcelona sports vice-president Sandro Rosell would have met twice with Hiddink but the Dutchman asked a too high salary. And with Ajax asking a fee to let Ronald Koeman go, it was in the end Frank Rijkaard who was appointed as new Barcelona manager.

Hiddink, who had joined PSV in 2002, stayed with the Dutch club until the summer of 2006, combining the job during his last season with coaching the Australian national team. After the World Cup in Germany, Hiddink became the coach of the Russian national team.

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Koeman prefers golfing over coaching Barcelona

Asked about the chance he would be coaching Barcelona one day, former Barcelona player and assistant coach Ronald Koeman (45) said in an interview with Dutch television network EO that it would depend upon the conditions:

"If you ask me to choose between playing golf for a year or coaching Barcelona for a year, I'd choose to play golf. But would they offer me a two-year contract, I would leave for Spain. But my family would stay in Holland this time."

pep's opinion:
if koeman would have rejected the offer of valencia at the end of last year and would have stayed with psv eindhoven (probably winning another dutch league title), he would now be the manager of barcelona

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Which players are on Guardiola's list?

Catalan sports paper Sport, who today claims that future Barcelona manager Guardiola is already planning next season's squad for over one month, made on Wednesday an overview of the players Guardiola wants to stay or leave. Before we throw that one in the trash can, here it goes:

should stay: Valdés, Zambrotta, Milito, Márquez, Puyol, Sylvinho, Abidal, Xavi, Iniesta, Deco, Messi, Bojan and Eto’o

can leave: Jorquera, Pinto, Thuram, Oleguer, Edmílson, Touré, Gudjohnsen, Ronaldinho, Henry, Giovani, Ezquerro

The same paper says today that Barcelona wants to listen to offers coming in for every player of the current squad, except for nine: Valdés, Milito, Puyol, Abidal, Touré, Xavi, Iniesta, Messi and Bojan.

Madrid sports tabloid As claims that Guardiola has explicitly asked for Bayern Munich full back defender Philipp Lahm (24).

Catalan sports paper El Mundo Deportivo claims that Guardiola thinks that Arsenal forward Emmanuel Adebayor (24) could be a key player in his new project. Barcelona did not yet make any move for the Togolese player but, despite his comment that he wants to stay with Arsenal (read more here), Barcelona will do everything that is possible to bring Adebayor to Barcelona. Barcelona forward Samuel Eto'o (27), who has a close relationship with Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger, could be included in the deal (read more here).

And British tabloid The Sun claims that the manager change in Barcelona could lead to Barcelona trying to bring in Liverpool central midfielder Xabi Alonso (26), for whom Juventus is planning a 20 million euro° bid.

During the Barcelona presidential elections back in 2003, Guardiola was the candidate to become the new Barcelona sports director if Lluís Bassat would win the elections. Bassat ended second (behind Laporta) but El Mundo Deportivo digged up the list of players that Guardiola planned to transfer at that time (having chosen Ronald Koeman, then Ajax manager, as the new coach), which could be an indication of the kind of players he would like to bring in now:

Inter Milan central defender Iván Córdoba, Zaragoza central defender Roberto Ayala (then Valencia), Inter central and left back defender Cristian Chivu (then Ajax), Milan defensive midfielder Emerson (then Roma), Liverpool winger Harry Kewell (then Leeds United) and Atlético Madrid winger José Antonio Reyes (then Sevilla).

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Ex-Barça: Ronald Koeman dismissed by Valencia

Former Barcelona central defender Ronald Koeman (45) has yesterday been relieved of his duties as first team coach of Spanish club Valencia with immediate effect. Despite winning the Spanish cup last week, the performances in the Spanish league made the position of Koeman impossible. With five games to play, Valencia is positioned only two points above the relegation zone.

In a brief statement, Koeman said that he left proud to have won the Copa but with an illusion less. The Dutchman joined Valencia in October of last year, arriving form Dutch champion PSV Eindhoven and replacing Quique Sánchez Flores.

Ronald Koeman played six seasons for Barcelona, arriving in 1989 from Dutch club PSV Eindhoven and leaving in the summer of 1995 for Dutch club Feyenoord Rotterdam. With Barcelona, Koeman won four consecutive Spanish league titles from 1991 to 1994, a Spanish cup in 1990, three Spanish Super Cups in 1991, 1992 and 1994, one European Super Cup in 1992 and one Champions Leauge in 1992, when he became a Barcelona legend scoring the winning free kick goal that gave Barcelona it's first European Champions Cup.


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Koeman owes Barcelona

Catalan sports paper Sport claims that Valencia at the last moment raised the salary of manager Ronald Koeman (44), who joined the Spanish club in October last year, to 9 million euro gross for two and and a half year in exchange for including a buyout clause in the contract. Valencia would have been afraid that Barcelona would come after Koeman at the end of this seaon.