Setien, coaching team suing Barcelona for breach of contract
Quique Setien and three members of his coaching staff announced Thursday that they are suing Barcelona for breach of contract following their sackings in August.
The unemployed head coach tweeted a joint statement with assistants Eder Sarabia, Jon Pascua, and Fran Soto in which claimed they were yet to receive compensation from Barcelona and had only received written notice that their deals were terminated on Sept. 16.
Ronald Koeman was officially named Barcelona head coach on Aug. 19, two days after Setien's seven-month reign ended.
"After a month of absolute silence from Barcelona's board of directors, and after diverse demands on our behalf, we did not receive any communication from the club until receiving a letter yesterday via burofax (recorded delivery)," the statement read, as translated by Reuters.
"Said letter revealed the clear intention from the club to not comply with contracts we signed on Jan. 14, 2020."
The statement said legal action was necessary to "preserve our rights and everything we had previously agreed with Barcelona." The complaint maintained Barcelona held the right to end their deals in the summer of 2021 and that terminating the contracts this summer meant compensation was due to Setien and his staff, ESPN's Adriana Garcia reports.
That statement added that Barcelona had offered Setien's coaches "future relocation" inside the club, Reuters understands.
Setien was sacked three days after Barcelona's cataclysmic 8-2 loss to Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarterfinals. There was little surprise when Setien was ushered out of the Camp Nou, but an impending court case with the tactician and his staff piles more pressure on embattled Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu.
Bartomeu is facing a vote of no confidence after a group seeking his removal garnered enough signatures. The petition against the incumbent Barca board was formally submitted on Thursday and, if approved, could eventually move the presidential election from March 2021 to a date between November 2020 and January 2021.