Ronald Koeman Planning A Clear-Out As He Begins To Stamp His Mark On Squad

Ronald Koeman Is Plotting A Clear-Out As He Begins To Stamp His Mark On The Squad.

The Dutchman was appointed as Quique Setien’s successor after a bitterly disappointing campaign last year, and he will be tasked with getting the Catalan giants back on track after ending this past season empty-handed.

While Ernesto Valverde also lost his job last year, there are arguably areas of concern with regards to the playing squad too, and it appears as though Koeman is starting the process of addressing those.

According to Sport, Ivan Rakitic, Arturo Vidal and Samuel Umtiti aren’t in the Dutch tactician’s plans moving forward and so they will all be considering their options in the coming weeks as they may have to find a new club.

Further, the report adds that Luis Suarez is also being tipped to move on, while Junior Firpo is another that may find himself heading through the exit door at the Camp Nou this summer.

Should exits materialise for the players in question, that should give Koeman more financial flexibility and space in the squad to bring in new faces to fit his ideas and plans moving forward.

Nevertheless, the Barcelona boss will also have to be careful that he doesn’t lose too much experience, quality and depth too as he will look to ensure his side compete on multiple fronts for major honours next season and beyond, and so he can’t afford to be left short-handed in the event of injuries.

It’s added by Sport that there is already interest in Rakitic, Umtiti, Vidal and Firpo, and so time will tell if deals are agreed as Barcelona seemingly look to freshen things up as they try to bounce back from what was a disastrous season in many regards, having lost their league crown to rivals Real Madrid while losing heavily to Bayern Munich in the Champions League.