What's smart about it? Sitting on the bench for a season and a half (he might've hoped he'd win Koeman over in the beginning) fully aware you're not gonna play while waiting for Xavi who might, but also might not come? And at the same time, all that club's proposing is a loan deal.
Serghei, deal with it, your golden boy's got no ambition and all he wanna do is enjoy his status of a Barca player.
He's not my golden boy. Do you see me posting images from his social media accounts
?
If he makes it at Barca it's with a total football type manager, a Cruyff-inspired type. Not a terrible idea to wait and see if Laporta names one of this ilk post-Koeman. Koeman has more in common with EV than with the likes of Pep. He prefers stronger, more athletic robust types, and his football is direct and often pretty rigid compared with the fluidity of Cruyff style. Best managers of this type are Pep, Tuchel, partly Klopp. Xavi could be the next one to apply and further tweak this vast and complicated style, he certainly has the knowledge for it.
Of course, going on loan just for 1 season would have been the best option, but don't now if it was on the cards for him or not.