With the sacking of Ronald Koeman as Barça coach, the negotiations to sign up his successor, already underway, are accelerating. Xavi Hernández has a clear advantage in the running to replace the Dutchman and, in fact, has already reached an agreement to be the new coach of Barça, according to the newspaper Sport. Meanwhile, the Barça club has made it official that Sergi Barjuan will occupy the first team bench temporarily.
Rescission of Xavi's contract with Al Sadd
Because he has the "DNA" of Barça, having passed through the club's Masia youth scheme and offering an attractive style of play, Joan Laporta's board has considered that Xavi is the ideal person to redirect the Catalan team's delicate situation. The intention of Xavi himself is also to return to Camp Nou - he has never made a secret of that - but now the issue is to talk his Qatari club Al Sadd about the termination of the contract.
Xavi during an event / EFE
The relations between Xavi and the Al Sadd board are very good and there should be few problems in reaching an understanding. The intention is for the former Barça player to start working in the Catalan capital as soon as possible and the date on which he could make his debut would be in the Champions League match in Kiev against Dinamo on November 2nd, according to La Vanguardia.
It is still early days for turning around the team's poor results in La Liga and the Champions League, but for the latter, it will be key to get all three points at the Ukrainian ground. Bayern and Benfica are first and second in the group, respectively, and the Catalans have to climb back up the standings to reach the round of 16. The next round of the Champions League is not only a sporting attraction but also an economic one. Barça's accounts do not leave room for many false steps.
Club president Joan Laporta / EFE
Yuste and Alemany, in Doha
Barça's sports division vice-president Rafa Yuste and football director Mateu Alemany travelled to Doha this Thursday to tie up all aspects of the contract, according to reports from Sport. Xavi renewed his contract with Al Sadd last May until 2023 and the agreement did not include a clause on the contingency of a phone call from Barça. However, the Qatari executives are unlikely to put up many obstacles and the former midfield star's buy-out clause is one million euros.
As is well known, Xavi does not want to be a short-term solution and aims to come to stay. His conditions include having his men of maximum confidence around him and some of their names are already becoming known. His brother Óscar Hernández, Sergio Alegre and Ivan Torres would land at El Prat together with Xavi, according to Sport.
Xavi, with his staff / @xavi
Barjuan, interim coach
Club president Joan Laporta was to meet this Thursday with the Barça squad, to explain the reasons for firing Koeman and tell the team who is taking over. While all the details of the contract with Xavi are being closed, the Barça club has announced that Sergi Barjuan will be in charge. The former first-team player and current coach of the B team was to direct his first training session on Thursday afternoon at the Joan Gamper Sports City, and will attend the media on Friday in the build-up to the Saturday night (9pm) league game against Alavés. He will be accompanied by president Laporta.
"FC Barcelona reports that Sergi Barjuan, the current coach of Barça B, will temporarily take over the technical management of the first team. His temporary period on the bench of the first team will end as soon as the club reaches agreement on a new coach", Barça stated in its brief statement.
Main image: Xavi Hernández during a match / EFE