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Exclusive: Subirats claims Koeman ideas better for Barcelona than Valencia

Javier Subirats thinks Barcelona will be more conducive to Ronald Koeman's tactics than Valencia.

The Dutchman was fired after just seven months at Valencia, despite ending the club's 10-year wait for a trophy by winning the Copa Del Rey.

Koeman fell out with a number of senior players at Mestalla and was not popular with supporters.

He has worked hard since leaving the club in 2008 at spells with AZ, Everton, Southampton and Feyenoord.

Having made his name as a player at Camp Nou, Koeman jumped at the chance to replace Quique Setien in the dugout this past summer.

And former Valencia player and sporting director Subirats believes Koeman's ideas will translate better at Barca than with Los Che.

"I believe that Koeman is an important person in the history of FC Barcelona," Subirats told Tribalfootball.com. "As a player, he scored the winning goal that got them their first Champions League title.

"He is a manager that believes in the Barca style of football, which comes from the Dutch school of football developed especially by Johan Cruyff. I think that Koeman is a relatively good choice for this time of transition for Barcelona…a team "without" Messi but "with" Messi ending up staying for another year, against his will.

"At Valencia, things didn't go very well for Koeman but did win the Copa del Rey title, which I believe was more credit to the players than Koeman's influence really. His time at Valencia is not remembered with much appreciation. However, I believe that he will find Barcelona a more favourable breeding ground for his ideas."

The Blaugrana have endured an indifferent start to the 2019/20 season.

After an opening day win over Villarreal, Barca have won, drawn and lost.

They are currently ninth on the table with a game in hand on great rivals Real Madrid.

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Will McCarthy

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