With only one game to go until the international break, Barcelona’s president, Joan Laporta, has the perfect opportunity to rid the club of Ronald Koeman and bring in a fresh coach with new ideas.
A number of names continue to be bandied around in the media, such as Roberto Martinez, Antonio Conte and Andrea Pirlo.
Whilst the former would be a safe pair of hands and is good friends with Jordi Cruyff, would he offer anything different to Koeman?
Their trajectories have been much the game, failing at big clubs in the Premier League, getting lesser lights over performing for a period, and then doing relatively well at international level.
MORE: Man United will win the Premier League
Barcelona are, though, a club in turmoil. In the most unimaginable crisis. To that end, they have to employ someone that knows the club inside out. Someone who’ll really get the fans onside, and who will be given time to bed down and make the job their own.
Xavi Hernandez might be the wild card in such a scenario, but his experience of Barcelona is unrivalled and, as has been seen with his Al-Sadd side, his teams play football the right way.
President, Joan Laporta, would appear to be a little reticent, but if the alternatives are those named, well there’s no real choice to be made is there…
Sadly, the winner is once again Koeman, who picks up a large fee for dismissal, how many is that now? A great player who gets a retirement money from clubs foolish enough to appoint him as their manager.