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Barcelona coach Koeman: Not my choice for Todibo and Cuenca to leave

Barcelona coach Ronald Koeman stands by the summer transfer decisions.

With the injuries to Gerard Pique and Sergi Roberto, Barcelona are going through a defensive crisis, and Koeman gave his thoughts on Samuel Umtiti and young Oscar Mingueza.

Ahead of their Champions League clash with Dynamo Kiev, Koeman said: "We know that [Umtiti] is a centre-back who has been injured for a long time and our plan with him is to get him ready to play in about two weeks. He has not played for a long time. The last game he played was in June. He has yet to recover.

"It was not a decision on my part for [Jean-Clair] Todibo or [Jorge] Cuenca to leave in the summer. They need to get minutes. They are not bad decisions. It is about them having a future.

"It is possible that [Mingueza] plays. Araujo is training individually every day. We are not going to risk much and we do not want to. When there are injuries we give opportunities to other players.

"In general, we have to improve in defence and we must look for more effectiveness up front."

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Carlos Volcano
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