If one drama evades Barcelona, another arrives within a split second. Having sacked Ronald Koeman just under a fortnight ago, the Catalan club have been looking for a new manager and are currently fixated on one of their own in the former captain Xavi Hernandez to return and reincarnate its lost glory.
However, Xavi’s current employers, the Qatari club Al Sadd, are unwilling to let the man leave. The Spaniard has been in Qatar since quitting the Blaugrana in 2015. Having represented the club for four years as a player, he took the managerial role in 2019. He has won seven trophies in these two seasons, including the league title once.
Xavi has clearly left a Catalan impression on Al Sadd, with the club adapting a pretty beautiful style of football, including one-touch passing, tiki-taka and long build-ups. He intends to take up the job in Barcelona and help his beloved club get back on their feet, but the board are determined to not let him go mid-season, as the Qatari league title is very much on the line.
Hernandez pointed that both clubs must reach an agreement, and he is eagerly waiting for the matter to resolve. Al Sadd are currently leading the league table with just a 3-point lead and aren’t willing to let their manager go. However, he heaped praises on the current Barca side and reminded fans that the team needs plenty of rebuilding.
“Whoever takes over as the Barcelona coach mustn’t be seen as a messiah. It’s a matter of building a team and bringing that feel-good factor and positivity back to the club. The Barcelona that we saw yesterday were already a different side.
There’s a good team there that can achieve things, but we’ll see. We’ve all got to pull in the same direction. It’s an exciting step in my career. We’re all buzzing and it would be fantastic,”
the two-time continental treble winner with Barcelona said.
Barca are having a dismal league campaign, remaining ninth on the table, nine points shy of table-toppers Real Sociedad, who played one game more than the Blaugrana. They picked up some form in the Champions League despite losing their opening two games horribly and might just sneak a place in the Round of 16.
