Ronald Koeman’s decision to leave Southampton for Everton surprised a few people, as many thought he’d done a commendable job of building a competitive side at St.Mary’s and would want to see that through for a little longer yet.
He said: “We opted for a big project at Everton, the club is massively changing and a lot of work is going on.
“Thus, in addition to building a new team and a new playing style, we’ve also remodelled the entire training complex. All in all a new situation, a new organisation and I have to deal with new players.”
Many managers like to conduct transfer business on their own, and don’t really like working with a director of football, but Koeman believes he has an excellent working relationship with Steve Walsh and wants to work with a director of football.
He added: “I know that in England the manager is the origin of all transfer deals. That used to be the situation at all the clubs. The manager was barely on the field, always sitting in the office with the phone in his hand and came down every now and then to lead the training.
“There are managers who work like that, but I don’t like it that way. You don’t need to put me all day in an office. I work as I also worked at Feyenoord. I’m always on the field and I leave transfer matters to a director of football affairs, At Everton in the person of Steve Walsh.
“I get on well with him. He’s there for the long term, I focus one hundred percent on the side, on the development of the players and the playing style at Everton I have in mind.”
