Koeman also said in an interview a year before coming here that Busi should be replaced but he was a starter for him this season.
Things are different when you look at them as a coach working with the players every day or when you're on the outside looking in as a former player/fan of the team. Also, Koeman had no past connections to Busi, Pique&Co. so he could be more direct and outspoken while it's hard to imagine Xavi being anything but diplomatic when asked about his former team mates and amigos. He shouldn't call them out anyway, this would look bad for all of them and we don't really need more bad publicity.
If Xavi becomes our manager he should "talk" with his actions. First thing he should do is sit down with his amigos in private and be clear with them that their role in the team will be reduced because that's the best for the club. If they'll accept a new reality they can stay around for another season (although it would be great if we could offload their wages) if not they should look for a new club. And he should stick with that even if we'd have a rough start with new/younger players.
But first, I don't believe our veterans are self-critical enough to admit how much they've declined and second, I doubt Xavi is the right guy to tell them what they need to hear. But if he has cojones to straighforwardly tell them then I think they'd actually accept his message better than if it would come from another coach, especially another "unproven" one which is the most likely we'll get if Koeman leaves. I actually think RK has more respect amongst the players (even if they might've lost some trust in him over the last few weeks) than any coach we could realistically get at this point besides Xavi would have. We don't need another Setien who would come in trying to change things but would be a dead man walking basically from his first day because nobody would give a feck about him.
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