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Barça’s Koeman acts for ‘patience’ as club reconstructs

Barcelona, Spain, Sep 22 (EFE).- FC Barcelona’s increasingly embattled head coach Ronald Koeman on Wednesday read out a lengthy statement calling for “time” and “patience” as the club goes through a period of reconstruction.

The Dutchman left the conference ahead of Barça LaLiga clash with Cadiz Thursday without taking questions, something reporters were told in advance.

“The club is with me as the manager in a period of reconstruction. The financial situation of the club is linked to the sporting decisions and vice versa. This means that we have to reconstruct the football team without investing large sums of money. This requires time.” he said.

“The young talents of today can become the new global stars in a few years. The good thing about reconstructing the team is that young players will have opportunities like those enjoyed, in their time, by Xavi and Iniesta. But it requires patience.”

He said Barcelona’s aim was to finish in a good position in the league, adding that the European stage was a good “school” for young players but that the club couldn’t “expect miracles.”

“The (0-3) loss against Bayern Munich should be viewed through that perspective,” he added.

Barcelona’s start to the season has been a far cry from previous years. As of Wednesday, and with two games in hand, the Catalan giants currently occupy the 8th spot in Spain’s top-flight.

On Monday, Barça scraped a last minute draw against struggling team Granada just a few days after losing to the German side on the European stage.

Dogged by the financial mismanagement of his predecessor, club president Joan Laporta has had to offload most of the team’s star players, from Luis Suarez and Antoine Griezmann, both of whom are playing at Atletico de Madrid, and, most notably, Lionel Messi, who now plies his trade in Paris. EFE

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