La Liga

Joaquin says Koeman isn't even worthy of being a kitman

The pair worked together during an unsuccessful spell at Valencia a few years ago, and never ended their hostilities

 
2:14pm on Tuesday 3rd November 2020
By
Martin Macdonald

Joaquin had admitted his surprise that Ronald Koeman has managed to land the role as Barcelona boss, as if he was in charge of a club he wouldn't even hire the Dutchman as the kitman.

The Spaniard and the new Barca manager worked together at Valencia a few years ago, with Koeman eventually being sacked.

Afterwards, Koeman would say that €30m players like Joaquin had played like they were worth €30 under his tenure.

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Joaquin toom umbrage to those comments at the time, saying:

"Koeman was a person who looked past people above their shoulders. He didn't have the cojones to say things to one's face, whereas I did.

"The only thing he was worried about was to have dinner with five or seven bottles of wine, for a warm, relaxing glow. And when he left he didn't say goodbye to the players - he just left with six or seven million euros.

Now, with the pair set to cross paths again this weekend when Betis take on Barcelona, Joaquin was asked to give his opinion on the Blaugrana hiring Koeman as head coach.

“Not even as kitman!” he responded to El Larguero when asked if he would appoint Koeman in charge if he was in charge of a club.

"I turned the page, we told each other everything.

“Fortunately, it did not last long and we were able to save the year by ending as well as possible because the year was complicated.

Koeman was put in charge of Barcelona in the summer

“[This weekend], he is not going to greet me and I am not going to greet him.”

Joaquin doesn't look back on that period of his career with much sentimentality.

“It was not the most beautiful experience of my sporting career,” he explained.

“It was not a pleasant experience, but as I always say: one has to live with everything and what happened at that time.

“I do not want to talk about this issue because honestly it hurts me what happened there, I had a bad time.”

In the 2020/21 campaign so far, Koeman has overseen Barcelona's worst start to a league season since 2002 under Louis van Gaal.

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