There were a couple of different approaches that Ronald Koeman could’ve taken when he took over at Barcelona.
They do have an ageing squad so he could’ve built things around some of their stalwarts and slowly introduced younger players into the team, but it looks like he’s going for a radical clear out instead.
While it should benefit the club in the long term, he does run the risk of upsetting the balance too much and damaging his own chances of success.
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It was clear that Luis Suarez was going to leave at some point in the next few years, but a report from Gianluca Di Marzio suggests they’re pushing hard to force him out now.
It’s an interesting situation because The Daily Mail recently indicated that Barca were trying to terminate the Uruguayan’s contract, and the Italian report appears to build on that by suggesting it could cost them €25m to pay him off.
As a result they have offered him to Juventus in a zero cost transfer, but it could be the first time in years that the Italian side would pass up such an opportunity.
For years they’ve done amazing work by bringing in veterans on free transfers and squeezing a few more years out of them, but Andrea Pirlo has tried to bring down the average age of the squad so signing Suarez would go against that.
You can see why Barcelona are doing this because it will get Suarez off the wage bill and save them paying that termination fee, but there’s no suggestion that Juventus will take them up on the offer just now.