Van Dijk disappointed with Ronald Koeman’s decision to leave Dutch national team
Ronald Koeman has officially become the coach of Barcelona, where the Dutchman’s decision has disappointed Liverpool defender Virgil Van Dijk. The reason is, Koeman had to leave his job as coach of the Dutch national team to accept the Spanish club’s offer.
As is known, about two weeks ago Barcelona announced the arrival of Ronald Koeman as a replacement for Quique Setien. This change of coach is one of the efforts of the Catalan giants after a complete failure in the 2019/20 season.
Speculation of Koeman’s appointment has been heard since the end of last season. Sure enough, the coach did not think long about leaving his position as coach of the Dutch national team to accept the offer from the former club.
Many consider Koeman’s decision quite surprising, because previously he had committed to leading the team to the upcoming 2020 Euro.
The Dutch national team players, including captain Virgil van Dijk, also admitted they were disappointed with Koeman’s decision. However, on the one hand, he knows very well that the former Everton coach has been waiting for this job offer since long time ago.
“We are all disappointed to see a great national team coach leave us, but we will give him that opportunity with all our hearts,”
“You can ask each individual player in our squad, they must all feel the same way. This [training Barca team] is his biggest dream.” Van Dijk told Goal international.
This Liverpool mainstay player admitted that he had been contacted by Koeman previously regarding this offer from Barcelona. Van Dijk also understood his coach’s decision and did not try to beg him to stay in the national team.
“At this time, with this Covid-19 pandemic and the uncertainty that comes with it, European competitions that are uncertain when to play, if such an opportunity comes, I can understand it,”
“I wasn’t trying to persuade him to survive at that time. Of course, no one expected everything to happen so quickly, but we are all very happy for him. Now we have to move on,” he concluded.
Actually, Koeman’s job as the new Barcelona coach is quite tough, because he must be able to revive the Catalunya Team next season.