After days of back and forth negotiations between Barcelona and Al-Sadd over Barca’s recruitment of former club legend Xavi Hernandez as manager, president Juan Laporta presented Xavi with a Barcelona jersey at Camp Nou, amidst cheering and excitement amongst the many fans in attendance.
Barca have been in financial and footballing turmoil over the past 12 months, as a woefully mismanaged financial situation forced them to sell a host of players, including their greatest ever player, Lionel Messi among others. Many players were also coaxed to renegotiate their contracts in order to comply with La Liga regulations, as president Javier Tebas made it clear that the Catalans wouldn’t be given any leeway whatsoever.
Things weren’t looking good under manager Ronald Koeman, who was unable to bring about any significant changes to the footballing side of things, after he replaced disgraced coach Quique Setien following Barcelona’s embarassing 8-2 defeat to Bayern Munich in the 2020 Champions League quarter-final. Things only took a turn for the worse after Messi’s departure, with Barcelona looking a shadow of their former self.
The Dutchman was sacked on October 28, with Sergi Barjuan taking over in the interim. The Catalans had made it perfectly clear that they were going to press hard in order to get Xavi Hernandez back to the club, after he had a successful campaign at Saudi club Al-Sadd in his first engagement as manager.
The Qatari side initially weren’t willing to let their manager go without a contest, and demanded a fee in the neighbourhood of €5 million. However, Barcelona weren’t not willing to pay any fee to secure Xavi’s services, who left the club after an illustrious career in 2015.
Nevertheless, it appears that the two clubs have reached some sort of compromise, as the two parties have evidently struck a deal in the matter of the Spaniard’s recruitment.
Barcelona fans on social media have been buzzing at the appointment of their beloved midfielder, who, along with his Spanish compatriots Andrés Iniesta and Sergio Busquets, formed one of the most decorated midfield partnerships, winning the sextuplet under Pep Guardiola, numerous league titles and UEFA Champions League titles, including two trebles in addition to winning the 2010 World Cup as well.
Xavi looked pleased as he was presented with the Barcelona jersey by Laporta, and proclaimed his plans for the future. He added that he had a talented core group of players at Barca and he aimed to win many titles over the next few years. He also spoke about Guardiola, and the impact his style of play and coaching has had on him.
“We have to work a lot every single day. We’re Barcelona, the best club in the world. This is the only way to get big results. We want to play good football. If they compare me with Guardiola, it’s more than positive. Pep’s the best manager in the world”
said Xavi.
