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Barcelona chief Laporta on a mission to lure top target after crazy Koeman call

Barcelona president Joan Laporta is reportedly desperate to get Pep Guardiola back as coach or in any other capacity, according to a report.

With the heat intensifying on current boss Ronald Koeman, Laporta wants Manchester City boss Guardiola back at the Camp Nou.

ElNacional’s headline reads: “Joan Laporta asks Pep Guardiola if he wants to change Manchester City for Barca.”

It’s almost an “impossible mission” for Laporta, who worked with Guardiola for two years when the pair were together at the Camp Nou from 2008 to 2010.

What is more straight forward is that Dutch boss Koeman is feeling the heat.

Last week’s hammering by Bayern Munich in the Champions League and Monday’s 1-1 draw with Granada will have him looking over his shoulder.

The 58-year-old refused to speak about the pressure after the game.

“I’m not going to talk about my future anymore,” said Koeman, who claimed he did not have the players to see off Granada.

“Today’s Barca is not the Barca of eight years ago,” he said.

“We played Barca’s way, but we don’t have the speed on the break because [Philippe] Coutinho goes inside, [Yusuf] Demir doesn’t go too deep and that’s the way it is. With Ansu [Fati] or [Ousmane] Dembele it’s different, you have more speed, but you have to look for alternatives.”

The LaLiga side have one win in their last four matches. Koeman also bizarrely used sub and central defender Gerard Pique as a striker on Monday.

Ronald Araujo did score late on to spare Barca’s blushes. And Koeman will point to the fact that Pique was involved after controlling the ball in the box.

 

According to RAC1, via Mundo Deportivo, Koeman will definitely be in place for Barca’s clash with Cadiz on Thursday.

But they suggest Barca will seek out possible replacements should results not improve between games with Cadiz and Levante on Sunday.

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Numerous roles open to Pep

And it appears that Laporta wants a reunion with Guardiola and “will do everything in his power” to get him back “as soon as possible”.

That will not be easy because Guardiola has claimed that Barca is in the past. The 50-year-old has also vowed to see out his contract at City until 2023 and then “take a break”.

The Spaniard also claimed last month that he had his heart set on an international job.

“Next step will be a national team, if there is a possibility,” he said at an XP Investimentos event.

Should Laporta fail in luring Guardiola as a coach then he will also offer him a return as either an advisor to the president, in charge of La Masia or as a sporting director.

ElNacional via Sport Witness claim that with Guardiola part of Barca’s technical team along with Mateu Alemany and Jordi Cruyff, Erik Ten Hag would “fit perfectly” as the coach.

READ MORE: Ferdinand tips Liverpool for perfect Man City raid due to ‘baffling’ Guardiola

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