Ronald Koeman reportedly refusing to take £4m cut on his Barcelona pay-off

You can't really blame Koeman, to be fair

Ronald Koeman is reportedly refusing to take a £4million cut on his Barcelona pay-off following his sacking. The Dutchman was sacked just 14 months after taking the job last week after the Catalan giants suffered a 1-0 defeat to Rayo Vallecano. Barcelona have made their worst start to a season since 1987/88, winning just four of their opening 11 La Liga fixtures. According to Sportsmail, the former Everton and Southampton manager was set to receive a £10m pay-off following club president Joan Laporta's decision to sack him. However, it is now believed that the four-time Champions League winners only want to pay the 58-year-old £6million - a figure that Koeman is unwilling to accept, as per Catalan television channel TV3. https://twitter.com/FootballJOE/status/1453486381741842436 Lluis Canut, a journalist from the channel, told Radio Catalunya via SPORT: "It's €12m (£10m) but I want to clear up that in this, there's nothing to do with the money paid to the Dutch federation (to sign him), that was €5m (£4.2m) that Barcelona paid straight away.

"I don't know if in this €12m it includes what has to be paid for his technical team or it's just him, taking into account that he delayed 45 per cent of his salary last season because of the pandemic.

"In the first conversations they had, they asked him to take a cut of around €7m or €8m (£4m), far from the 12 they have to pay him.

"It's a contract signed by both sides, not by the current board but it's a recognised contract and it's not about letting them off, it has to be paid."

The financial problems at the Camp Nou are evident, with Barcelona revealing that they made a loss of £409m in the previous financial year. They also stated that they were 'technically bankrupt' when Laporta became president once again in March. The favourite to replace Koeman at the helm is former midfielder Xavi, who, according to Sport, has a release clause of £840,000 at Qatari club Al Sadd.

Related links:

• Miralem Pjanić rubs salt in the wounds after Koeman sacking
• Xavi the favourite to replace Ronald Koeman as Barcelona manager
• Miralem Pjanić claims he was disrespected by Ronald Koeman in brutal interview