6th November, 2021
Barcelona have finally announced that Xavi is the club’s new manager after another chaotic few days for the Catalan giants.
Al Sadd announced early on Friday that Xavi was heading to Barcelona after the Catalans paid his release clause.
However, it subsequently emerged that Barca weren’t too happy about all that, and more negotiations followed between the two clubs.
It seems now that Barcelona and Xavi have agreed to pay €2.5 million each in order to get the deal done.
There is also speculation that Barca could recoup the €5m by playing a friendly with Al Sadd at some point in the future.
Here’s the club’s official statement.
“FC Barcelona have reached an agreement with Xavi Hernández for him to become first-team coach for the rest of the current season and two more seasons. Xavi Hernández, a youth team product at Barça, has left his current club, Al-Sadd of Qatar, after talks held over the last few days with the owners of the club.
“It is expected that Xavi Hernández will arrive in Barcelona this weekend and that on Monday 8 November his presentation as new FC Barcelona first-team coach will take place in an event open to the public at Camp Nou. After the event, Xavi Hernández will appear in a press conference in the Ricard Maxenchs press room.”
Speaking on the deal, Xavi said:
“I can’t put into words how excited I am to go back to defending the crest that I bear on my heart. To go back to feeling the buzz of the Camp Nou from within and once again hearing the cries of support from the fans.”