EX-BARCELONA coach Quique Setien has revealed the club still owe him severance pay, two years after he was sacked by the Catalans.
The Spanish coach, 64, has taken over the reigns at Villarreal – replacing Unai Emery at the LaLiga club.
Speaking to Spanish radio after his first game, Setien spoke about his former club and his relationship with superstar Lionel Messi.
Setien said he should have walked out on the club before he was sacked and admitted: “They still owe me money”.
While he reportedly clashed with Messi during his tenure at the Camp Nou.
He told Cadena Ser: “There is no point in me talking about Messi because for me he has been great to watch for 14 years. I was 14 years waiting to see Barcelona’s matches to see him and that is what I want to remember of Messi.”
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Then, when he was pushed into answering if Messi disappointed him when he got the opportunity to manage him, he remained guarded.
‘I can’t evaluate that. But it’s true that things happened, as happens with many players, that as a coach you like and others that you don’t and you have to find a way to deal with them.
‘There is always one player or another that you find it harder to work with. But I would do it all again and I learned from it and it will make me a better coach.’
Barcelona will play in the Europa League, after crashing out at the group stages in the Champions League.
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They were soundly beaten by Bayern Munich on Wednesday, and Setien had his say on their current predicament.
“Bayern is a great team and Barça still need more time to compete in Europe.
“Everyone understood that there was going to be a transition as happens with all teams. The financial situation influences things too and I say that because they still have not paid me everything [they owe me]. We reached an agreement and there is a payment plan [of three years] and I have told them they can take the time they need.”
Quizzed on whether he should have walked away from the job, Setien said: “If you see things not working out then you shouldn’t be a hypocrite and you should walk away. But it’s a team you have always wanted to coach and it’s been difficult to get the job so to enter through one door and then exit through another is hard to do.”
Setien was believed to have struggled with player power during his time at Barça.
He said: “You go to a club where the players have been 15-20 years winning trophies and they have certain habits ingrained that I had never experienced,” he added.
“You turn up and you realise that there are little things that you cannot change. And that is not easy for a coach.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
