As if he wanted to perpetuate his famous caracole on the pitch, Xavi Hernández also plays absentmindedly as a coach. His irrevocable decision to leave the bench next summer with one year of contract to fulfill, has ceased to be and now depends on a meeting that will be held at the end of this week and that will place him face to face with the president Joan Laporta, the sports director Deco and sports vice president Rafa Yuste. The trio called is not coincidental, Xavi trusts the three (in this order, Yuste, Laporta and, at a greater distance, Deco) and few others in the board of directors and in the executive core that usually surrounds the president.
The summit will be held because Laporta and especially Yuste consider that, having tracked the market and taking into account the current economic circumstances, there is no coach who can improve what is present. Rafa Márquez, the reserve team's coach, is still in the bag just in case, but has taken a backseat due to Xavi's new availability. The German Hansi Flick is also on the agenda awaiting the outcome of the talks.
The performance of the first team after Xavi announced his delayed farewell in January after the defeat in Montjuïc against Villarreal (3-5) has given food for thought. “As a culé I cannot allow this situation, a change of direction and dynamics is needed, the players will free themselves. Announcing it will de-escalate the general situation, I feel the most responsible,” the coach argued then. The team, those deciding, has offered signs of improvement since then. The season will end blank but the project springs forth. If last year the League was won, in this year a team of young players led by Lamine Yamal and Cubarsí, promoted precisely by Xavi, makes us think of a future that improves the present. The starting point may seem unambitious and out of harmony with sectors of Barcelona fans who consider that Xavi has already given everything he had to give, but Laporta and Yuste see it differently. The trajectory in the Champions League, cut short in the quarterfinals against PSG in a second leg marked by the expulsion of Araújo, is considered an illustrative example in this sense.
And what does Xavi think? A club man above all, the coach has agreed to meet with the idea of listening and the hope that he will be heard, but he has nothing decided. Last summer, confident in the optimistic discourse of the presidency, he let himself go until everything ended up being the opposite of how he imagined it. The reinforcements requested from him (Zubimendi or Kimmich in midfield, Bernardo Silva, above) ended in nothing at the last minute. Oriol Romeu came as a pivot, the loaned João Félix and João Cancelo, offered by the representative Jorge Mendes, who maintains a very good relationship with Laporta, and Dembélé left, sold at a low price despite the fact that Xavi considered him one of the few footballers differentials of your staff. In winter, the Brazilian Vitor Roque arrived after a large investment (30 million 31) that has not been properly explained. Xavi keeps it as a decorative element.
The coach, who arrived in Barcelona with only the experience of Qatar, has taken the position, believes he has the locker room under control (especially the young players) and sees a future for the team if the appropriate adjustments are made. That will be what he will raise at the meeting. Faced with identical requests, Deco, with a realistic speech and not as attached to Xavi as his predecessors Jordi Cruyff and Mateu Alemany, replied that the club lacked the resources to take them on.
There are also other more delicate matters to be introduced by Xavi. For example, a greater influence of the club in the power bodies (it is convinced that the arbitrations suffered in the League and in the Champions League are a consequence of this) and the distancing of the locker room and the scope of the big decisions of some directors and executives. which he considers “internal adversaries.” In the worst moments of the season, Xavi was aware that both Enric Masip, advisor to the presidency and member of the sports commission, and Joan Soler, responsible for youth football, did not work in his favor. Other members of Barcelona who work in the day-to-day life of the footballers also have the cross.
The dilemma is knowing how Laporta will convince Xavi to improve the squad if the economic situation is the same or worse than last summer and there is still more talk about selling than buying.
