Barcelona considering Roberto Martinez as next head coach

Barcelona are reportedly interested in replacing head coach Ronald Koeman with Roberto Martinez.

Barca are said to be ready to sack Koeman after a miserable start to 2021/22.

Martinez has been in charge of the Belgium national team for the last five years, taking them to the semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

According to Goal, Barca have already made contact with Martinez about the job - although no official talks have taken place.

A Catalonia native, Martinez has close ties to the five-time European champions through Jordi Cruyff - son of influential club icon Johan and currently a sporting advisor at Camp Nou. The two are godparents to one another's children.

It's not hard to see why Barca would want to part ways with Koeman; they've won only two of their seven games in all competitions so far this season - and just three of their last ten.

This week saw thoroughly uninspiring La Liga draws at home to Granada and away to Cadiz.

Against Granada, Barca required a 90th-minute equaliser from Ronald Araujo to salvage a point. They also attempted 54 crosses - more than any other side from Europe's top five leagues in a single game this season.

The Azulgrana are suffering their most acute identity crisis for the best part of 20 years. That much was obvious in their 3-0 Champions League defeat at home to Bayern Munich; they looked a shell of their old selves.

In Koeman's defence, he is having to coach while hamstrung by injuries - quite literally in the case of Jordi Alba, who is sidelined along with Moussa Wague, Martin Braithwaite, Ousmane Dembele, Sergio Aguero, Ansu Fati, Pedri and Alejandro Balde.

The Dutchman is also working against the backdrop of the club's well-publicised financial crisis (you know, the one which saw a certain Lionel Messi have to leave this summer).

Unfortunately for Koeman, though, this is football, a world where sympathy - even if warranted - runs in short supply. It does feel like a case of when and not if he's given the boot.

But would Martinez prove a successful appointment? Never say never, but, despite ensuring legendary status among Wigan fans by winning the FA Cup with them in 2013, he hardly set the world alight at Everton - where he was succeeded by [checks notes] Koeman.

Ultimately, Barcelona are in a bit of a pickle from top to bottom - and a change in the dugout seems unlikely to have the miraculous effect that president Joan Laporta might believe.

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