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Koeman ‘is refusing’ to take Sh600m cut on his Barca pay-off

Wednesday, November 3rd, 2021 00:00 | By
Ronald Koeman.

Madrid, Tuesday

Ronald Koeman is refusing to take a £4 million hit on his Barcelona pay-off following his sacking, according to reports in Spain.

The Dutchman’s 14 months in charge of Barcelona came to an end after their defeat at Rayo Vallecano last week following their worst start to a season since 1987-88.

Sportsmail understands the former Everton and Southampton boss was set to get a £10m pay-off as a result of the decision made by club president Joan Laporta and the board.

But according to Catalan television channel TV3, the club now only want to pay the 58-year-old £6m, something he is unwilling to accept.

A journalist from the channel, Lluis Canut, told Radio Catalunya via SPORT: ‘It’s €12m (£10m) but I want to clear up that in this, there’s nothing to do with the money paid to the Dutch federation (to sign him), that was €5m (£4.2m) that Barcelona paid straight away.

‘I don’t know if in these 12 it includes what has to be paid for his technical team or it’s just him, taking into account that he delayed 45 per cent of his salary last season because of the pandemic.

‘In the first conversations they had they asked him to take a cut of around seven or 8m (£4m), far from the 12 they have to pay him.

‘It’s a contract signed by both sides, not by the current board but it’s a recognised contract and it’s not about letting them off, it has to be paid.’

Barcelona’s financial problems have been well-documented, with the club confirming last month they made a loss of £409m in the previous financial year and were ‘technically bankrupt’ when Laporta became president once more in March.

Meanwhile, Xavi is the strong favourite to replace Koeman at the Camp Nou helm, but the club are also facing some wrath on that front too.

The former midfielder’s current club Al Sadd are reportedly angry with how Barcelona have treated the deal as done.

The Qatari club are desperate to keep hold of their coach, who has enjoyed major success in his two years in charge in the Middle East.

They even released a public statement on Twitter on Friday night, warning Barcelona off Xavi and reminding their coach that he has a two-year contract they expect him to honour.

It’s also claimed that nobody from the Catalan giants has even contacted Al Sadd to begin formal negotiations over a deal for Xavi.          - Daily Mail

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