Published 11:53 IST, February 3rd 2021
Luis Suarez should've joined Juventus and NOT Atletico, says Barcelona boss Ronald Koeman
In a recent interview, Barcelona boss Ronald Koeman has mentioned that he would have preferred to see Luis Suarez join Juventus over Atletico Madrid.
In an attempt to inject some youth into the team the Catalan giants got rid of some of their star footballers who were on the wrong side of their 30’s, including Ivan Rakitic and Vidal. The Catalan club also let their star striker Suarez move to title rivals Atletico Madrid on a free transfer.
The Barcelona board wished to get rid of the Uruguayan striker so badly that they let him off on a free transfer to lighten their wage bill and get him off their books. The 34-year-old striker was then reportedly linked to a move to Turin where he would have joined Cristiano Ronaldo at Juventus before seeing the move fall through. However, it worked well and in favour of Luis Suarez as Atletico Madrid snapped him up with the former Barcelona man now playing under Diego Simeone in LaLiga, featuring for the top Spanish team based out of the country’s capital.
Suarez Atletico stats
Since joining Athletico Madrid, Luis Suarez has hit the ground running and has been in an impeccable run of form. The 34-year-old striker has scored 14 goals in 16 matches so far. Suarez is currently leading the goal-scoring charts standing at the top of the Pichichi standings with Lionel Messi and Youssef En-Nesyri behind him by two goals. The Uruguayan marksman's form has helped his club to a great extent as the free transfer has led Los Colchoneros to aim for and stay at the top position in the LaLiga standings.
Ronald Koeman on Suarez
Barcelona have been pretty inconsistent this season. Currently slotted second in LaLiga standings, the Catalan gains are a massive 10 points behind Atletico Madrid's points tally. To add insult to injury, the Barcelona team lost the chance to lift some silverware this season by coming short against Athletic Bilbao in the final of the Supercopa de Espana.
Ronald Koeman, who took over the reins before the start of the ongoing season will be fuming to see one of Barcelona's former stars excel for a rival club. During a recent interview, the former Dutch national team manager admitted that it was not ideal for Luis Suarez to have stayed in Spain.
Speaking with The Athletic, Koeman revealed that it was a part of his job to know about a certain player. He added that when he arrived as a coach, he had spoken with the club where everybody had their opinion and a final decision was later taken.
Koeman mentioned that if it goes well then it’s OK, but if it doesn’t go well then it needs to be on the coach's way and that’s the most important thing. The Barcelona head coach added how the club is changing and it would have been better if Luis Suarez signed for Juventus instead of Atletico Madrid. Reasoning his thoughts out he mentioned how Suarez signing for Atletico has the striker still terrorising them as he’s still in the Spanish League.
Koeman signed off by saying how these are the kinds of decisions which the coaches and the club had to make. Mentioning how really tough such decisions are, he added that they should continue giving respect to the player, which he thinks is really important. Having a firm stand firm on his decision, Koeman ended the conversation by saying that he still agrees with the decisions that he and the club had at that time.
Updated 11:53 IST, February 3rd 2021