Barcelona are set to hire Xavi Hernandez to replace Ronald Koeman and will give the Spain icon free-reign on transfers, including offloading West Ham’s summer target Luuk de Jong.
That’s according to Sport, who report the Blaugrana will soon tell De Jong they no longer want his services. Koeman was influential in the Dutchman moving to the Camp Nou on the final day of the window. But his performances in Catalunya have often been a disaster.
The 31-year-old has only scored once in nine games across all competitions and started just five appearances. He has also only played 26-minutes in La Liga through October, including the final six-minutes at Rayo Vallecano on Wednesday.
Barcelona’s loss at Rayo Vallecano was ultimately Koeman’s final game in charge, with Xavi set to replace the former Everton manager, which will also pave the end for De Jong. Barca will strive to terminate his season-long loan from Sevilla in the January transfer window.
Xavi will have free-reign over who arrives and leaves Barcelona in the mid-season market after the club promised him reinforcements. The Camp Nou outfit’s dire run under Koeman left the Catalan giants ninth in La Liga. They also trail leaders Real Sociedad by nine-points.
Barcelona will need to offload De Jong to raise funds for Xavi’s plans, but Besiktas would be interested in him. The Black Eagles explored his situation at Sevilla in the summer before leaving to join Koeman, as did West Ham.
Barcelona to offload former West Ham target De Jong with Xavi arriving
West Ham were among De Jong’s options this summer, per Sport, but he chose Barcelona to unite with Koeman. The Hammers made Sevilla an offer for their €15m (£12.5m) striker as Deadline Day approached, however their pursuit proved unsuccessful.
Now, De Jong could regret snubbing West Ham for Barcelona and Koeman with Xavi set to take charge. Potentially ending his stay at the Camp Nou, where Koeman was full of praise last month. The now unemployed coach told NOS, via quotes by Marca:
“When there’s a cross coming in, Luuk is more dangerous than Neymar. He’s a different kind of forward to what we have, and I think all teams should have one like him.”
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