Status: 11/06/2021 11:00 a.m.
Xavi should lead Barça out of the crisis as the new coach, it will not be an easy task. The return of the club’s hero almost failed – it was, of course, also about the money.
Xavi Hernández
Image: Robin Townsend / EFE / dpa
Xavi had been signed for the current season and the two that followed, according to a statement published on Saturday night (November 6th, 2021) on the FC Barcelona website. He will arrive in Barcelona over the weekend and will be officially presented on Monday. The notification did not contain any further details.
Five million euros transfer fee for Al Sadd
According to media reports, at the talks of a delegation from the Catalan club headed by Vice-President Rafael Yuste in Doha, the payment of five million euros was concerned. According to the information, this was due to Xavi’s current employer Al Sadd in the event of an early termination of the coaching contract, which actually ran until 2023.
Barça initially refused the payment, it said. Now the sum should be raised in equal parts by FC Barcelona and Xavi, wrote the Spanish newspaper “Mundo Deportivo”.
Failure was in the air
For a short time, it had previously looked as if the negotiations might fail. Al-Sadd CEO Turki Al-Ali wrote on Twitter on Friday: “After paying the sums agreed in the contract, Al Sadd is in agreement with Xavi’s move to Barcelona.” Xavi is an important part of Al Sadd’s history and the club wishes him every success in the future, Al-Ali said. Everything seemed already bagged.
Only about an hour and a half later, however, reported “Mundo Deportivo” that representatives of FC Barcelona were angry about the statement. The club is not ready to pay the requested amount. It was an exciting time for everyone who is keeping up with Barcelona. And the end was a positive one.
About dreams and reality
Xavi had played for Barca between 1998 and 2015 and won the Champions League four times with the club. With the Spanish national team he was world and European champion. Now he is the successor of the killed coach Ronald Koeman. The 41-year-old is faced with the difficult task of leading the traditional club out of the sporting crisis following the departure of superstar Lionel Messi.
“I really want to go home,” Xavi said recently. So much for dreams that come true. Now begins a phase in which it is no longer about dreaming, reality is not according to the imagination of FC Barcelona. In the league, the club is only in the middle of the table, money is scarce and the mood has been better.
Source: sportschau.de