Messi, Ronaldo & the Golden Shoe leaders
The Everton manager, who has had spells as a player and assistant manager at Camp Nou, has regularly been linked to Barca, with Luis Enrique’s contract due to expire at the end of the season.
De Boer knows Koeman well, having featured with him for Netherlands and played for the club while Koeman was number two to Louis van Gaal.
Koeman again insisted last week there was “nothing” in the latest round of speculation, which had been started by his former agent and De Boer’s current representative Guido Albers, who claimed the former Southampton boss was on Barca’s shortlist.
“Normally I think he is [at clubs] for the long term, but maybe in his contract if he gets a call from Barcelona then he can go because that is always his dream,” De Boer, speaking as a William Hill ambassador, said at the London Affiliate Conference.
“I think he also mentioned it a lot of times that when Barcelona come calling it would be fantastic. He would deserve it because he is doing well and he also did well with Southampton.
Di Maria not back to his best
“But hopefully for Everton he doesn’t get a call and he will stick there for a couple of years, like he did at Southampton.”
De Boer thinks seventh-placed Everton are still capable of reaching the Champions League this season under the stewardship of Koeman.
The ex-Inter boss said: “There is still a gap between them and sixth place but hopefully they can fight back to come maybe third, fourth or fifth because Liverpool are not doing that well right now. Hopefully they can catch them up.
“He has brought structure. He is a very good trainer, technical-wise too. He had a little bit of difficulty in the beginning but now they have their confidence back and they have a really good team.
“They have still young players but also quite [a lot of] experience because they have already played a long time in the Premier League.”
