Koeman €8m exit clause claimed in Barcelona
In their Tuesday edition Mundo Deportivo once again look at possible future Barcelona managers. There have been question marks over Luis Enrique this season and every time there’s a poor result the idea of an exit is floated.
Ronald Koeman is repeatedly linked to Barcelona, given his history playing for the club. The Catalan newspaper point out that these links are only likely to be ecnouraged by the 25th anniversary of Barcelona winning the European Cup at Wembley. It was the club’s first victory in the competition, and Koeman scored the only goal of the game in extra time.
The Everton manager’s heroic status at Barcelona will be boosted with the retrospectives surely on the way, and if that coincides with more struggles for Enrique’s men on the pitch then it’s inevitable the links will strengthen.
Mundo Deportivo claim that just like Koeman had an exit clause in his Southampton contract, so he does in his Everton deal. Southampton were reluctant to lose their manager but were forced to part ways in the face of a strong Everton approach, and the Dutchman’s desire to make the move.
Everton paid Southampton €5m for Koeman, explain Mundo Deportivo. It’s claimed the fee Barcelona, or anyone else, would have to pay Everton to get the manager is €8m.
The Catalan newspaper states Everton see that as a good profit on the money paid to Southampton. It’s that part of the claim which creates doubt, a figure of €3m isn’t a great deal in modern football and certainly not enough profit to make the disruption os losing a manager palatable.
Should Barcelona come calling then Everton will surely find themselves in a situation similar to that which faced Southampton, with Koeman unlikely to turn his nose up at such an opportunity.
