Suarez among 4 players likely to leave Barcelona

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MADRID, Aug 25, (AP): With or without Lionel Messi, incoming Barcelona coach Ronald Koeman seems to be clear about who won’t fit into his squad next season. Among them are some key players from recent years, including Luis Suárez, Arturo Vidal, Ivan Rakitic and Samuel Umtiti. Neither the club nor the coach have said publicly who is staying and who is leaving, but those four players reportedly have already been told that they are not in Koeman’s plans.

Their departures would certainly be part of the “profound” changes to the first team that the club announced after its season ended with a humiliating 8-2 loss to Bayern Munich in the quarterfi nals of the Champions League. The rout also raised doubts about what would happen to Messi, who was outspoken about some of the club’s poor decisions this season. But president Josep Bartomeu and Koeman said they were counting on the Argentina forward to stay.

They both admitted, though, that there was a need to revamp an aging squad that left the club without a title for the fi rst time since 2007-08. The club’s restructuring began with the fi ring of coach Quique Setién a few days after the loss to Bayern, and new presidential elections were called for March.

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