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Not so long ago, it looked like Barcelona were well placed to go ahead and win the La Liga title as Ronald Koeman guided the team through a resurgent spell. The jury is out on whether Koeman is the right person to take Barcelona forward but there are suggestions that the board is already looking for replacements.
While Barcelona's form in recent weeks has seen them capitulate and relinquish their chances of winning the La Liga title, showing Ronald Koeman the exit door for that reason would be quite a hasty move.
The Dutch manager was tasked with improving or at least maintaining the levels of a team that was going through one of its toughest phases in history. Koeman has largely succeeded at doing so and here, we take a look at five reasons why Barcelona should not sack him.
#5 Sacking Ronald Koeman will lead to more instability
Barcelona have not had any stability at the top in recent times. Ernesto Valverde was sacked despite winning two back-to-back La Liga titles. His successor Quique Setien proved to not be good enough to be at the helm for long.
In addition to that, Josep Maria Bartomeu was still club president. It has been a turbulent couple of years for the Catalans and sacking Ronald Koeman right now will lead to yet another period of instability.
Barcelona can do without another shake-up right now. Also, it is not a good cycle to repeat. Clubs that buy into the sacking culture end up putting extra pressure on managers and short-term results are becoming far more important than they should be. That is certainly not what Barcelona want for themselves.
#4 Young players have broken through at Barcelona under Ronald Koeman
One of the main criticisms that has been aired against Koeman is that Riqui Puig seems to have become a non-entity at the club. But otherwise, the Barcelona manager has done well with the youngsters at the club.
Pedri has become a regular feature in the starting XI and he is only 18-years-old. Ansu Fati enjoyed a stellar start to life at Camp Nou before being sidelined with a bad knee injury. In the absence of Gerard Pique and Samuel Umtiti, Ronald Araujo and Oscar Mingueza have stepped up and delivered and have shown a lot of promise.
20-year-old right-back Sergino Dest has played well and has been used across multiple positions including defensive midfield and the left flank. Ousmane Dembele has enjoyed arguably his best season since joining Barcelona.
Ilaix Moriba has impressed in the short time that he has featured since breaking onto the scene. All of this goes to show that there is a renewed focus on developing young players at the club and it has come at a crucial time given how Barcelona's main players have all crossed over to their 30s.
#3 Ronald Koeman inherited a broken team
Let's take a look at the circumstances under which Ronald Koeman took over as the manager of Barcelona. Josep Maria Bartomeu's allegedly corrupt regime was still in place. Barcelona were in heavy debt and could not back Ronald Koeman in the transfer market as a result of reckless spending over the past few years.
Lionel Messi had informed the club of his desire to leave. To make matters worse, Koeman has had to spend his first year at Barcelona without the supporters egging the team on from the sidelines.
Barcelona had an ageing core, several top players were leaving and there was a lot of instability at the top. Despite all that, Koeman was able to guide Barcelona to the Copa Del Rey title. And once he had got the team to settle down, he got them to claw their way back into the title race even though their capitulation towards the end takes all the sheen away from it.
He has focused on improving the young players and making sure that the transition into a new phase is done without too many hitches.
#2 Ronald Koeman has shown his care and concern for Barcelona
As a former player and Barcelona legend, Ronald Koeman has always wanted to manage the club. That is why when the opportunity arrived, he quit his job as the manager of the Dutch national side, where he was doing a great job ahead of the Euros.
Ronald Koeman paid his release clause out of his own pocket and was among the first people at the club to take a paycut when the club was navigating a financial crisis. The Dutchman has the best interests of the club at his heart and that is beyond debate.
This is yet another reason why it may be too early to pull the plug on Koeman's stint as Barcelona already have a manager who cares and has shown that he can do a decent job. He should be allowed to see out his two-year contract at the very least.
#1 Lionel Messi has a cordial relationship with Ronald Koeman
Barcelona have a very important summer transfer window coming up. They have a lot of deadwood to offload and they are also trying to make some valuable additions to their squad. But their priority is extending Lionel Messi's contract.
After scoring 30 goals in La Liga this season, Lionel Messi has shown exactly how important a player he is to the side. Messi reportedly shares a good rapport with Ronald Koeman and is not one of the Barcelona players who wants Xavi Hernandez to take over as manager.
The last thing the Barcelona board want to put Lionel Messi through is to navigate yet another season of uncertainty. Messi reportedly wants to be at a club with a robust footballing project and sacking a manager after his first year at the club, which had its own unique set of difficulties, is not a great look for Barcelona in that regard.
