Barcelona's New Coach Ronald Koeman Fires Luis Suarez Via Phone, Report Says

Barcelona’s new manager, Ronald Koeman, told Luis Suarez via phone call on Monday that he has no future with Barca and that his contract will be terminated a year early, a report says.

Koeman immediately replaced Quique Setien as Barcelona’s manager after a devastating Champions League defeat to Bayern Munich. Upon the Dutchman’s arrival at Camp Nou, reports have strongly suggested that a massive clearout of players at Barcelona will follow suit.

The current Barca squad is stacked with aging veterans, and some names have already been linked to a move away from Camp Nou. Now, Suarez, a player who appeared to be safe and is seldom mentioned in transfer talks, has been told by Koeman that he is not included in his plans for Barcelona, Spanish outlet RAC1 reported.

The newly appointed Barcelona coach called Suarez via phone to inform him he has no future with him at the club, RAC1 said. Suarez’s contract, which is due to expire on June 30, 2021, will be terminated with immediate effect in line with Koeman’s decision.

The club will be meeting with the 33-year-old Uruguayan striker's lawyers to settle his contract, which also included one optional year on top of the remaining one in his deal.

When asked for details regarding Koeman and Suarez's conversation, Barca sources told Mundo Deportivo that Koeman is in the middle of planning his squad for the upcoming campaign.

However, no more details about conversations, meetings or calls from the new coach to Barcelona players have been revealed.

Suarez joined Barcelona from Liverpool in the summer of 2014 via a staggering £75 million ($98 million) deal. The massive move turned out to be a huge success for the Catalans as the Uruguayan quickly teamed up well with Lionel Messi in the attacking department, forming the once-phenomenal “MSN” trio with ex-Barca star Neymar Jr.

In his time with the Catalans, Suarez managed to score a total of 198 goals and dished out an impressive 109 assists in 283 appearances for the Blaugrana. He is also the third player in Barcelona’s list of all-time goal scorers.

Prior to the reported firing of Suarez, Koeman has already proposed an alternative for another Barcelona veteran, Jordi Alba, previous reports said. The former Ajax manager and player recently asked the Barcelona board to consider signing Manchester City loanee Angeliño, who is currently on loan at RB Leipzig.

After an impressive loan season with the Bundesliga side, Angeliño became a prospect for the new Barca coach, with some reports suggesting that the player could be a proper replacement for Alba next season.

Much like Suarez and Alba, Croatian midfielder Ivan Rakitic, who has been involved in controversies over his desire to play for his former club Sevilla, is also one of the players expected to leave Camp Nou.