Ronald Koeman Still Not Permitted to Lead Barcelona in Competitive Matches
By Tom Gott
Barcelona manager Ronald Koeman will not be allowed to lead the club in a competitive match until they find an agreement over a severance package with former boss Quique Setién.
Setién was sacked in the aftermath of the 8-2 mauling at the hands of Bayern Munich, with Barcelona quickly choosing to replace him with club legend Koeman.
However, according to COPE, things aren't as straightforward as that. Barcelona made the decision to publicly sack Setién without agreeing a compensation fee, and the former boss is yet to accept any of the club's offers.
Setién is holding out for an entire year's salary - he had one year left on his contract at the time of his departure - but Barcelona are hesitant to pay that after already shelling out money to part ways with Ernesto Valverde before him, as well as the fee to lure Koeman away from the Dutch national team.
So, in the eyes of the Spanish Football Federation, Setién is still technically the manager at the club, and Koeman's registration cannot be completed until the dispute surrounding the former boss has been rectified.
As it stands, Koeman will not be able to lead any competitive games, and it is even thought that Barça won't be able to sign any new players until Setién's exit is finalised.
It sounds like things couldn't get much worse at Camp Nou, right?
Well, club members have formed the Més Que Una Moció movement to try and force club president Josep Maria Bartomeu out of the club, and the group confirmed on Twitter that they have received 90% of the required signatures to trigger a vote of no confidence in Bartomeu.
If the group can find the remaining 10%, there will be a formal vote over whether Bartomeu stays or goes, with the Evening Standard adding that only 66% of members need to vote 'yes' for the president to be shown the door.
There will be an election in March 2021 to find Bartomeu's successor, but many fans are keen to see the president leave as soon as possible as they blame Bartomeu for the club's recent decline.