When Roberto Martinez was going through his good spell at Everton, the Barcelona media made sure everyone knew he was one of their own. Born in Balaguer, Martinez is Catalan and the media local to Barcelona covered his success and looked kindly upon the idea of La Masia products going to Everton on loan.
Quickly washing their hands of all that, Catalan newspaper Sport have a piece in their Tuesday edition explaining that Everton’s success under new manager Ronald Koeman is very much in the ‘Barca DNA’ mould.
Headlining their article ‘Barca DNA in the Premier League’, Sport grab a bit of Manchester City’s praise as well, which is probably much more deserved given Pep Guardiola developed his managerial skills at Barcelona.
For Koeman it’s more termed as a ‘Catalan-Dutch style’, going all the way back to Johan Cruyff. The Everton manager did have a spell as an assistant at Barcelona, but since then has managed 8 others clubs, including giants such as Ajax, Benfica and Valencia.
His style is almost certainly more rounded, and his philosophy forged in Dutch football, but for Sport it’s all about the Barca DNA.
