Deulofeu blasts new Barca manager Koeman, says club has overlooked La Masia


Deulofeu blasts new Barca manager Koeman, says club has overlooked La Masia

Koeman Deulofeu

Watford’s Gerard Deulofeu

Former Barcelona winger Gerard Deulofeu has taken aim at his former side. The former Barca man criticised new manager Ronald Koeman and said that the club has ignored its youth system.

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Deulofeu came through Barca’s La Masia youth system. The Watford forward has played under Koeman at Everton in 2016-17 but was sent out on loan to AC Milan. After leaving Goodison Park, Koeman took charge of the Dutch national side before being announced as the new Barca boss on Wednesday.

Deulofeu says Koeman’s attitude forced him to quit Everton

Ronald Koeman is not getting the support of former Barca Winger, Deulofeu

“I can tell you about Koeman from my personal experience, and I have very little to tell you about Koeman,” Deulofeu told Catalunya Radio.

“He provided me absolutely nothing. I wasn’t happy, I asked to leave and I went to Milan. We’ll see how he does at the Camp Nou.”

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Barca presidential candidate Victor Font has said that if he wins next year’s election, Koeman will not remain as manager even if he wins a treble.

Deulofeu now looks to be on the hunt for a new club. After current side Watford’s relegation from the Premier League this season.

When the 26-year-old left Everton permanently in 2017, it was for a brief return to Barca. Now, after two frustrating spells at Camp Nou, he says he isn’t bothered by the club’s most recent crisis.

Deulofeu’s views on Barca’s La Masia Academy

La Masia Academy is not as it used to be during Guardiola’s time in Barcelona

The truth is that Barcelona’s (situation) does not bother me,” he said. “In fact, right now, I don’t care.”

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Deulofeu was once one of La Masia’s most prized assets. But his fall from grace in recent seasons has been a familiar story.

Ansu Fati and Riqui Puig are among the academy assets to have broken into the first team in recent months. But Barca’s ageing first team bears little to no resemblance to the golden generation under Pep Guardiola.

Big-money signings like Philippe Coutinho, Ousmane Dembele and Antoine Griezmann have failed to shine. The core of the team — Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez, Sergio Busquets, Jordi Alba and Gerard Pique are in their 30s and ageing.

“At Barcelona, they have not had patience with La Masia for years,” Deulofeu commented.“If you give (the youngsters) time, they learn the style of the first team.

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“There are players, many of us have come from there, but not patience. Now there will be changes, but they are years behind.”

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