The Blaugrana boss has rebuffed the midfielder’s allegations that he was subjected to poor treatment at the club.
Ronald Koeman has hit back at Miralem Pjanic over his claims that the manager disrespected and ignored him saying “there are other players better than him” at FC Barcelona.
Pjanic struggled to get into the Barcelona line-up under Koeman, managing to feature in just 30 matches while starting in only 13 of those in 2020-21.
The Bosnia & Herzegovina international was also deprived of minutes in the new season as he failed to feature in any of Barca’s three La Liga outings.
Frustrated with the lack of consistent game time, he finally joined Turkish outfit Besiktas on a season-long deal at the end of last month.
Pjanic accused Koeman of disrespecting him and “killing his confidence” after his move – and the manager has now responded to those accusations.
“I think it’s a bit of frustration on the part of the player that I understand,” he said, speaking to Mundo Deportivo.
“But in our way of playing, in our ideas with the ball and without the ball, he has lost the battle with other midfielders, and nothing else.
“I wish him the best. It has been complicated. We have tried, we have tried and we have seen that there are other players better than him.”
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