Photo: KARIM JAAFAR / AFP / Getty Images
Finally the board of directors and fans of the Spanish club FC Barcelona could meet with a longing for years: the homecoming of Xavi Hernández , this time as technical director.
In the midst of a gambling and identity crisis , the president of the Catalan team Joan Laporta made the decision to fire Ronald Koeman in the technical direction and from the first moment always wanted to go for Xavi, a living legend of the club and flag of the best Barcelona that has been seen in recent years, that of the ‘Tiki-taka’.
An official expedition led by the sports vice president Rafael Yuste and football director Mateu Alemany traveled to Qatar this Wednesday to deal directly with the managers and owners of Al Sadd , team in which Xavi has been directing lo s last two years.
The meeting of the two parties to unblock the chess game that would return the illusion to the fanatic culé will be this Thursday between Yuste and Alemany with Mohamad bin Khalifa al Thani , owner of the Qatari club, advanced the Spanish newspaper Sport.
What is on the negotiating table is that the ex-footballer leaves of Al Sadd without compensation being paid . On the other hand, they will discuss whether a friendly match next season can liven up that ‘free’ outing.
Xavi would receive a lower salary at Barcelona than he did. who currently wins and would sign for the next two seasons, until 2024.
The objective of Laporta and the Barca management is that Xavi feels like coach in the away game they have on Friday against Celta . After the dismissal of Koeman, Sergi Barjuan has been the one who has led the threads of the team on an interim basis.
The Qataris hoped that it would be Laporta himself The one who traveled to Doha to find a way to stay with his technical director, however, they have finally been made up of two heavyweights within the organization chart of Barcelona, such as Yuste and Alemany.
In the last days it was thought that the hiring of Xavi was almost impossible . Different spokesmen within Al Sadd have insisted that they cannot let go of their coach when the results have accompanied the club and they seek to win the championship.
Xavi, a FC Barcelona legendary
The memories of the glory years of FC Barcelona are fresh, captained from defense by Carles Puyol, in the middle of the field with Xavi and Iniesta, and in attack the star Argentine Lionel Messi.
Appealing to memory is the coup that Joan Laporta seeks to restore identity and good play to his club. Although Xavi does not have experience directing a high-level squad, neither did Josep “Pep” Guardiola have filming when he assumed technical direction for the season 1200 – 2010 and then filled the culés showcases with titles
His record is made up of 25 championships, of which 17 are local (Spain) and 8 are European, including four UEFA Champions League.
I niesta, Messi and Xavi took the podium for the Ballon d’Or of 2010 which in the end ended up winning “La Pulga”. The three were also the greatest exponents of Tiki-taka, a style of play called and characterized by maintaining possession of the ball and maintaining a precious style in search of victory.
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Joan Laporta will not travel to Qatar to close the signing of Xavi Hernández with Barcelona