Former FC Barcelona manager Ronald Koeman has broken his silence about his unceremonious exit from the club earlier this season. He claims that the club did not give him the same amount of time to try to succeed as they are now giving current manager Xavi Hernandez.

Club president Joan Laporta made the call to sack Koeman last October, just a couple of months into the current campaign. The club had to shell out a lot of money to pay for the separation and to bring in Xavi, who was employed by Qatari side Al-Sadd at the time.

Koeman held a dignified silence since then, but has now decided to open up to Dutch publication Algemeen Dagblad. Among his revelations, he admitted that he is too heartbroken to return to the stadium which once held glorious memories of his successful career as a player. "You won't see me at the Camp Nou for a while, I can't do that yet. With this president I can't pretend nothing happened," he said, hinting that he has a personal grudge against Laporta.

He pointed out that he barely had time to create a winning squad, especially after Messi's departure and the club's limited finances. "They didn't give me the time they have given to the new coach, Xavi," he said, before casting doubt on the real reasons why the club could not keep the Argentine former captain.

"It was at the insistence of the club's management that I agreed to the departure of some players to get the finances in order. But then when you see someone being brought in for 55 million euros [Ferran Torres] shortly after letting Lionel Messi go. It's then you wonder if something else wasn't going on. Why did Messi have to go?"

Furthermore, he said that it was a painful time to lose players to the transfer market as well as to injury. "I was working with a lot of injured players. Now Pedri is back to fitness, and Ousmane Dembele - you can see everything falling into place," he said.

"Every coach needs time and patience from the board. I would have liked the new signings too."

In the end, he is still happy for the Blaugrana, who appear to be on an upward trajectory following a handful of new signings in January. He then hinted that his exit was partly political, with the new president wanting to remove a manager who was appointed by his predecessor.

Ronald Koeman
Former Barcelona manager Ronald Koeman AFP / LLUIS GENE