Ronald Koeman has been appointed as the new manager of FC Barcelona.
The return home that Ronald Koeman always wanted materialized after Barca CL debacle to Bayern Munich last week.
Koeman, 57, has signed a two-year contract to manage Barcelona and the former Everton and Southampton manager has jumped at the chance to coach the team he played for from 1989-1995 and scored the winner in the Champions League final for in 1992. Koeman previously worked as the assistant coach to the first team and also as the manager of Barcelona's B team.
"It was an honor to be the national coach of the Netherlands. For the past two and a half years I have done everything I can to achieve successes", Koeman said. "I look back with pride on what we have achieved together in that period. The Dutch national team has a bright future, I am convinced of that. "Everyone knows that Barcelona is my dream club. It feels very special to me to be able to become a coach there."
His main focuses will be to build a new-look team around Lionel Messi (while keep the Argentine superstar happy), bring down the average age of the squad and to restore the Barcelona identity as someone who knows the club inside out. He is a figurehead for everything Barcelona stands for and he will have the immediate respect of the players. Maybe a big-name coach like this is what Messi and Co. need to snap out of their funk? They finished second in La Liga and reached the Champions League last eight once again, but things have just been drifting along for the Catalan giants.
The defender, nicknamed "Tintin", made 350 appearances and scored 106 goals as part of Johan Cruyff's "Dream Team" between 1989 and 1995 and claimed 10 trophies along the way – four league titles, a European Cup, a Copa del Rey, a European Super Cup and three Spanish Super Cups.
The return home that Ronald Koeman always wanted materialized after Barca CL debacle to Bayern Munich last week.
Koeman, 57, has signed a two-year contract to manage Barcelona and the former Everton and Southampton manager has jumped at the chance to coach the team he played for from 1989-1995 and scored the winner in the Champions League final for in 1992. Koeman previously worked as the assistant coach to the first team and also as the manager of Barcelona's B team.
"It was an honor to be the national coach of the Netherlands. For the past two and a half years I have done everything I can to achieve successes", Koeman said. "I look back with pride on what we have achieved together in that period. The Dutch national team has a bright future, I am convinced of that. "Everyone knows that Barcelona is my dream club. It feels very special to me to be able to become a coach there."
His main focuses will be to build a new-look team around Lionel Messi (while keep the Argentine superstar happy), bring down the average age of the squad and to restore the Barcelona identity as someone who knows the club inside out. He is a figurehead for everything Barcelona stands for and he will have the immediate respect of the players. Maybe a big-name coach like this is what Messi and Co. need to snap out of their funk? They finished second in La Liga and reached the Champions League last eight once again, but things have just been drifting along for the Catalan giants.
The defender, nicknamed "Tintin", made 350 appearances and scored 106 goals as part of Johan Cruyff's "Dream Team" between 1989 and 1995 and claimed 10 trophies along the way – four league titles, a European Cup, a Copa del Rey, a European Super Cup and three Spanish Super Cups.
