Ronald Koeman: We cannot weaken ourselves further"
The coach wants maximum implication from his squad and loans no longer on the table
Ronald Koeman said “if we want more we have to improve things,” regarding transfers. However the club’s strange institutional situation means that is hard. “We are who we are and we cannot weaken ourselves further,” Koeman told his players.
While waiting to see what happens with Depay (basically discarded), and Eric Garcia (a slim chance of coming in January), everything points to no new players arriving in the coming days.
On the other hand it has been speculated that some players could leave, in the search for more minutes. Koeman, in principle, wanted that to happen with some of the young players. However he has changed his mind now.
Riqui Puig is one of the beneficiaries of this situation. The 4-3-3 has given him more opportunities. And because Carles Alena went to Getafe. And thirdly, because Koeman knows reinforcements are now unlikely. So he doesn’t want the squad to weaken themselves further by loaning players out. Junior Firpo was another who wanted to go for game time but now Koeman wants him to stay until the end of the season.
The reality is that Barca don’t have a lot of reserves who have minutes under their belt. The subs at the Martinez Valero on Sunday: Neto, Tenas, Matheus, Dest (in cotton wool), Lenglet, Junior, Pjanic, Riqui Puig, Trincao and Konrad.
Against that scenario, Koeman has asked for maximum implication from the group he has now until the end of the season. He’s also emphasised the importance of the players taking care of their personal lives - habits, rest, doing what they can not to get injured. The group has lost Pique, Sergi Roberto, Ansu Fati and Coutinho for quite a while and can do without more setbacks.
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