Reports: Ronald Koeman wants to sign Donny van de Beek for Barcelona

The favourite to take over as Barcelona head coach, Ronald Koeman has already set his sights on revamping the squad for the new season. The former Southampton manager has reportedly made Ajax midfielder Donny van de Beek his no.1 priority for the summer.

Barcelona officially announced on Monday that Quique Setien had been relieved from his duties as head coach, and have reportedly moved swiftly to contact their former player Koeman to take over.

Koeman is currently the head coach of the Netherlands National Team. The Dutchman is said to be interested in taking the reins at Barcelona after Setien was sacked following the embarrassing 8-2 defeat to Bayern Munich in the UEFA Champions League quarter-final.

According to Le10Sport, Koeman has already set his sights on making important additions to the Barcelona squad, and 23-year-old Ajax midfielder van de Beek is a big priority at this moment.

Koeman has already worked with van de Beek as the Dutch head coach and wants to reunite with the Ajax man at club level. However, van de Beek was never a guaranteed starter for Koeman with the national team.

The coach generally preferred Barcelona man Frenkie de Jong starting with Marten de Roon and Gini Wijnaldum in the middle of the park.

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A Donny van de Beek and Frenkie de Jong reunion at the Camp Nou on the cards?

Donny van de Beek could become Ronald Koeman's first signing at Barcelona

Van de Beek, 23, has been the subject of interest from various top clubs around Europe for a year now. Both Real Madrid and Manchester United reportedly showed interest in signing him from Ajax, but those have fallen through now.

In an interview with Fox Sports a few days ago, van de Beek said that his future is still uncertain, even though he is still proud to be an Ajax player.

“It is very messy, in any case a very messy period in terms of transfers. Nothing is certain yet. I am still a player of Ajax and I am still proud to be there

“If there had not been the coronavirus, it might have been different now. There is no clarity now and we have to wait and see how it turns out.

“I’m still here and after all these years I still have a lot of fun. If I also play at Ajax next season, I still have a lot of fun. You won’t hear me complaining.”

Barcelona have already signed Miralem Pjanic from Juventus in a deal which saw Arthur Melo move in the other direction.