In this Sept 6, 2019 photo, Netherlands' Coach Ronald Koeman (center) follows the action from the sidelines during the UEFA Euro 2020 Group C qualification football match between Germany and the Netherlands in Hamburg, northern Germany. (ODD ANDERSEN / AFP)

BARCELONA - Ronald Koeman is set to become Barcelona's next coach and the Dutchman will construct his team around Lionel Messi, president Josep Maria Bartomeu said on Tuesday.

A restructuring of Barcelona began with Quique Setien’s sacking on Monday and continued on Tuesday as sporting director Eric Abidal agreed to terminate his contract

Koeman, who is revered by Barca fans for delivering their first European Cup as a player, will be expected to lead the club’s rebuilding work after they were thrashed 8-2 by Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarter-finals last Friday.

“If there is no change then we will announce Koeman as our next coach and he will lead this team and these players forward with a different type of project, led by a coach who all Barca fans know,” Bartomeu said in an interview with the club’s official television channel.

Koeman’s imminent arrival will be the third phase of a restructuring of the club which began with Quique Setien’s sacking on Monday and continued on Tuesday as sporting director Eric Abidal agreed to terminate his contract.

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Abidal, a double Champions League winner as a Barca player, had been in the role for over two years but has been let go after one of the club’s worst seasons in recent memory, in which they also surrendered the league title to Real Madrid.

The Frenchman was also the target of criticism from Lionel Messi earlier this year, who accused his former team mate of blaming the squad for Ernesto Valverde getting sacked as coach last January.

Abidal joined Barca as a player in 2007 and became one of the club’s most popular players for enduring a battle with cancer, which forced him to undergo a liver transplant in 2012.

“The club would publicly like to thank Éric Abidal for his professionalism, commitment, dedication and the close and positive nature of his relationship with all aspects of the Barca family,” the club said in a statement.

Koeman, 57, arrived in Barcelona on Tuesday after spending the morning at the Netherlands’ headquarters to negotiate being released from his contract with the national team, who he has coached since 2018 and led to qualify for Euro 2020.

In this Dec 13, 1992 photo, Sao Paulo Captain and star striker Rai (right) steals the ball from Barcelona's defence Ronald Koeman during the first quarter of Toyota European/South American cup 13 in Tokyo. (TORU YAMANAKA / AFP)

Koeman is fondly remembered at Barca for the role he played in Johan Cruyff’s hugely successful side known as the ‘Dream Team’ and for scoring the only goal against Sampdoria in the 1992 European Cup final.

The defender later became the club’s assistant coach before embarking on an eventful career as a head coach, managing Dutch sides Ajax Amsterdam, PSV Eindhoven and Feyenoord plus Premier League teams Southampton and Everton and La Liga’s Valencia.

“We are betting on him because we know him very well, we know how he thinks and how his teams play, but also because of his experience and as he was in Johan’s ‘Dream Team’ he knows Barca and how we understand football,” Bartomeu added.

Bartomeu also said captain Messi was not about to leave the club and would be an integral part of the team under Koeman.

“Messi wants to end his career at Barca, he has said that many times. I’ve spoken to Koeman about him and he has told me Messi will be the pillar of his project,” Bartomeu said.

“Messi has a contract with Barca until 2021. I speak to him and his father regularly and they know that we have a solid project, that a new coach is coming and that he will count on him.”

READ MORE: Barca sack coach Setien following Bayern drubbing, call elections

Bartomeu, who on Monday announced that the club’s presidential elections will take place in March 2021, three months earlier than planned, also defended his running of the club after facing calls to resign after the defeat by Bayern.

“We have a sporting crisis but not an institutional one,” he added.

“We’ve had a very negative result in the Champions League but the club is in a good place in a social and financial sense.”