Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu has confirmed that Netherlands manager Ronald Koeman will be appointed the new head coach nine months after he rejected the role.
Barcelona sacked Quique Setien after his side were humiliated 8-2 by Bayern Munich in the Champions League.
“These days, everything comes out in the press,” Bartomeu told Barca TV.
“If nothing goes wrong, Koeman will be the coach we’ll announce who will lead this team and these players forward, with a different project and with a coach who the fans know well, not only as a player but also as a coach.
“We’re backing him because we know him really well in terms of how he is and how he thinks and how his teams play, but also because of his experience, for being in Johan Cruyff’s ‘Dream Team’. He knows Barca and the way to understand football.”
Koeman is already in Barcelona and is set to be named the new Barcelona head coach.
Koeman, 57, has been in charge of Netherlands since 2018. He turned down Barcelona’s advances after they fired Ernesto Valverde in January, saying he wanted to guide the Netherlands into the Euro 2020.
However, the Euro 2020 was pushed to 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Bartomeu confirmed that they held talks with Koeman in December 2019 but Koeman made it clear that he did not want to leave his national team facing a race to find a replacement ahead of the Euro 2020 tournament.
“In December, we spoke with different coaches to see who could come. At that time, we denied it because we couldn’t explain things. I can say now,” Bartomeu said.
“Koeman told us he had a responsibility to the Netherlands and could not leave them without a coach, but he was the first coach we contacted. Now, he’s told us the Euros are very far away, we’re in a pandemic and we don’t know what will happen to competitions.
“Now, he’s said he can do it. It’s been a dream of his for a long time.”
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