Ronald Koeman's Handling of Riqui Puig Shows He's the Wrong Man for Barcelona's Rebuild
By Tom Gott
21-year-old midfielder Riqui Puig has become something of a poster boy for everything that has gone wrong at Barcelona over recent years.
'Why do the club keep spending big when they could just play Puig?'
'Why won't the manager play any academy kids? Puig's right there!'
The young Spaniard has been seen by many as the future of the club for a good few years now. Fans have regularly blasted whichever manager was in charge at the time for their reluctance to play Puig, but with Barcelona entering rebuild mode this summer, it seemed like Puig could finally get his chance.
But no. Ronald Koeman, the man brought in to steady the ship and build Barcelona's squad back up from the ground, has decided to ship Puig out as there still aren't any minutes to give him. Mundo Deportivo suggest Barça want to send Puig to Ajax for a year as Koeman's system doesn't work for him, but the Dutch side are yet to lodge a bid.
How? How can the man tasked with restoring Barcelona to their former glory miss such an obvious way to actually do that?
Bringing Puig into the starting lineup would reopen that pathway between La Masia and the first team, which was once known to be the clearest path in Europe. As managers have neglected the youth, the academy's allure has gone, and fans know it. That's one part of the rich history destroyed.
It would also add some much-needed youth and enthusiasm (and talent) to a midfield which still includes the rapidly ageing Sergio Busquets and a Miralem Pjanić who looked to be on the decline before even making the move to Camp Nou.
Instead of rejuvenating the midfield, Koeman wants to ship Puig out and replace him with Liverpool's Georginio Wijnaldum who, at 29 years old, is surely approaching his own decline. It's the same short-termism which got Barcelona into this mess in the first place.
Koeman is not thinking about preparing Barcelona for the future. Instead, he's just preparing them for next season. In 12 months' time, they'll just be right back in this same mess.
Barcelona need to accept that they might not be able to challenge for the La Liga title this season and instead throw all their eggs into the rebuild basket. One year of 'mediocrity' in exchange for a decade of global dominance doesn't seem like too much of a price to pay for a side who look to have lost all hope.
It should come as no surprise that Puig has attracted links from all over Europe. His quality and potential are both so easy to see. He's the kind of player any manager would want to build their squad around.
So why not Koeman?
Or rather, why didn't Barça go for somebody who would want that?
The concern is that Barcelona have taken the easy way out of their dilemma. They're trying to soften the blow as much as possible this summer. However, by doing so, they're making the actual blow ten times worse.
Puig is the future of this Barcelona side, but he's also good enough to be the present. This summer should be all about him, but the club have let him down. Again.