Santiago Cañizares believes Ronald Koeman was always targeting the Barcelona job when he was manager of Valencia.

The Dutchman has finally returned to Barca, the club where he made his name as a player, replacing Quique Setién in the Camp Nou dugout.

It has been a long managerial journey for Koeman since his first senior post at Vitesse in 2000.

A five-time La Liga winner with the Blaugrana, Koeman had managed Ajax, Benfica and PSV before replacing Quique Sánchez Flores at Valencia in October 2007.

The former sweeper made no friends early on during his short stay at Mestalla when he banished club stalwart Canizares, along with fellow established stars Miguel Angel Angulo and David Albelda, from first-team activities.

On April 16 2008, Koeman delivered the club's first trophy since 1999 with a Copa del Rey win over Getafe at the Vicente Calderon. But six days later, with the club sitting two points above the relegation zone after collecting just 18 of a possible 66 points since he took over, Koeman was given his marching orders.

Speaking before Koeman was hired by Barca last week, Cañizares said he believed it was always the 57-year-old's intention to join Barcelona, even when he was at Valencia.

"He is a type of person that I don't have a good recollection of," Cañizares told Tribalfootball.com.

"At Valencia, he produced more pain than glory despite winning the Copa del Rey. Under him, Valencia was close to being relegated in La Liga despite having one of the best squads in their footballing history. Personally, Koeman is not someone to my liking so I prefer not to air my opinions about him.

"I don't have any idea if he would be successful at Barcelona, I really do have no idea.

"However, I do believe that when he started to manage Valencia his real intention, from the very beginning, was to manage Barcelona."