Ronald Koeman laments ‘losing the best player in the world’ to PSG but insists Barcelona must now ‘close the book’ on Lionel Messi saga
- Lionel Messi devastated Barcelona fans and team-mates by having to leave
- Talisman has joined PSG and Ronald Koeman’s side must move on without him
- Dutchman wants to ‘close the book’ on Messi saga and concentrate on season
- But he admitted he was surprised on the day he found out about the news
Barcelona need to ‘close the book’ on the Lionel Messi saga and put the sorrow of his departure to PSG behind them, says Ronald Koeman.
The manager lamented the fact that he and the club have lost ‘the best player in the world’ but issued a rallying cry for his players to unite in their talisman’s absence.
Barcelona face Real Sociedad in their LaLiga opener this Sunday when life after Messi will truly become a reality.
Lionel Messi joined PSG after his emotional Barcelona exit following 17 successful years
Ronald Koeman wants to ‘close the book’ on the saga that has enveloped the club this summer
And Koeman spoke about the Argentine’s exit, telling ESPN: ‘We have to understand that there is always an end for a player. You have to close the book because now we have to focus on this new season. We have new players in and we have to move forward, and we have time for that.
‘We have young players in the squad this season, and it’s also for the future, we are working on the future of this club, and it’s really important to have our focus on this and not focus on what happened in the last few days.’
‘I knew there was a difficult situation between the club and Leo Messi and the league to have the possibilities to keep Messi in the club.’
He added: ‘It takes a long time, but I was also surprised by the day and the moment that I heard that he was finished playing for Barcelona. I knew the financial situation of the club made it more difficult.
Messi has already been training with his new team-mates in Paris and settling in
‘I think it was difficult because we are not just talking about any player, we are talking about Leo Messi, the best player in the world through a lot of seasons and we were all disappointed that he will not play for us this season.
‘OK, you have to change fast because you don’t stay in the disappointment with the new season starting. You have to understand it was for a few days a difficult situation. Messi meant so much for this club.’
Messi was such a powerful presence at Barcelona and his departure also leaves a huge void in terms of goals.
He netted 30 times last season and Koeman spoke about others picking up the slack to ensure there is not a huge drop off.
Ansu Fati and Co have been called on by their manager to step up and fill the Messi void
The former Everton boss added: ‘Of course we will have more difficulties to score goals.
‘So other players need to bring more and take the next step and it’s more about the team now than individual players.
‘It’s not always one player, you have to do it together. Hopefully, we get players back from injury like Ansu Fati and Coutinho and then we still have a strong squad. We will work harder, we will do more to achieve what people expect from us.’
