It's been quite the summer at Football Club Barcelona.After the Blaugrana's 8-2 defeat at the hands of Bayern Munich in the Champions League back on August 14th, the club had no option back to remove Quique Setien as manager.But that was far from the biggest news in the aftermath as shortly after Barca's humiliation out in Portugal, talisman Lionel Messi publicly declared that he wanted to leave the club.Thankfully for the Spanish giants, the Argentine superstar recently declared that he would remain at the club as the Barca hierarchy made it clear that he could only leave if his €700m release clause was met.It's been a complete mess and new manager Ronald Koeman has an enormous task on his hands to reverse the downward spiral the club find themselves in.Messi & KoemanHowever, it seems the Dutchman may struggle to influence proceedings for the time being, because he still cannot sit on Barca's bench for official games as of yet.As reported by Cadena Cope, the fact the Blaugrana have not settled on an agreement for Setien's exit means that Koeman cannot be officially named as the new boss by the Spanish FA.

Setien wants to receive a full year's pay in compensation for his exit and the fact Barca merely 'relieved him of his duties' rather than sacking the Spaniard means his contract his still ongoing.

The club will be desperate to resolve the issue ahead of the new La Liga season, with the Catalonian side's first game against Villarreal next weekend.

Should Koeman be granted permission to officially sit on the sideline as manager, Barca will go into that game with a renewed sense of optimism after an impressive 3-1 friendly win over Girona last night.

Philippe Coutinho grabbed his second goal in as many preseason matches, while Messi scored a brace on his return to the starting XI.

The Barca squad vs Girona

But can the club really make any progress in 2020/21 with the obvious ineptitude of the board? Sadly, it's highly unlikely, even with a fit and firing Messi.