Player, Xavi Hernandez calculated everything with 0.8 information taken per second according to a Norwegian study. A computer on crampons. But when it came to accepting the job of FC Barcelona coach, the former midfielder gave himself time to make up his mind. And after two refusals, the Spaniard finally said “yes” to his favorite club, the one of which he was the strategist between 1998 and 2015.
The Al-Sadd club in Qatar announced on Friday (November 5th) that an agreement had been reached for the departure of their coach (under contract until 2023) to Barça. ” We have reached an agreement for Xavi to go to Barcelona after the payment of his clause stipulated in his contract ”, Al-Sadd reported that Xavi led to the national title last season. According to the Spanish press (such as the sports daily AS), the technician must sign his contract this Friday with the club blaugrana.
Turki Al-Ali: The #AlSadd administration has agreed on Xavi’s move to Barcelona after the payment of the release cl… https://t.co/MFkVpFmWWZ
Since the dismissal of Ronald Koeman on October 28, the return of Xavi was taken for granted but it was still necessary to put the forms and convince the leaders of Al-Sadd to free the Spaniard. On Wednesday, a Barça delegation even made the trip to Doha to remove the last obstacles on his return.
“I always said that Xavi would one day end up coaching Barça. Better: I would like him to be Barça coach under my presidency “, announced the president of the Catalan club, Joan Laporta on October 29 at a press conference, when installing the interim Sergi Barjuan. He was not the only one who predicted and desired this fate all mapped out. Whether he’s a near-unknown (Quique Setien) or a club legend (Ronald Koeman), late coaches were never more than default choices while waiting for Xavi to arrive.
In recent months, the Catalan sports press has campaigned for the return of the prodigal son, the only one given as capable of rekindling the flame of a “Soulless team”, according to the daily Sport, and without results either (current 9e of the Spanish Championship). Unrecognizable on the pitch, Barça was also “In a situation of accounting bankruptcy” in March, according to its managing director, Ferran Reverter, with a debt of 1.35 billion euros.
“I am just a pupil of the Cruyffienne school”
Xavi knows where he is setting foot again. Since his Qatari “exile” as a player and then a coach, he has observed, and sometimes criticized, the decay of his Barça with unreadable sports policy, with transfers as expensive as they were failures (Coutinho, Dembélé, Griezmann, Malcolm and many others ) under the chairmanship of Josep Maria Bartomeu. “Barça fell asleep on its laurels. It’s been years, by the way. Those who recruit do anything and at one point you pay for it. Recent recruits are pitiful ”, He was already dazzling in 2018 in a private recording disclosed by the program “El Penalti”.
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