Former Barcelona player Xavi has confirmed that he had held talks with Barcelona regarding the manager role, MySportDab reports.
Pressure is mounting on under-fire Barcelona Coach Ernesto Valverde and MySportDab understands that club legend Xavi could replace Valverde at the Nou Camp.
The Spain international is still Barcelona’s all-time leading appearance maker, winning a stunning 25 trophies during his fantastic 17-year career at the club.
And Xavi, despite being manager at Al Sadd, has confirmed that he spoke to Barcelona’s sporting director Eric Abidal and chief executive Oscar Grau over the past few days.
‘I can’t say anything, they were here to talk and we discussed many things. Sorry I cannot provide any more information,’ Xavi told a news conference on Saturday.
‘It has always been my dream to coach Barcelona, I’ve said this so many times in various interviews, everyone knows I will always support Barcelona from the bottom of my heart.
‘But i still have my job here, I’m working on it. I was fully focused during the semi-final and we are preparing focusing on the final.’
Just ahad of Saturday’s match against Al Rayyan, Al Sadd’s sporting director Muhammad Ghulam Al Balushi confirmed Xavi was negotiating a return to Barcelona.
‘There are talks between Xavi and Barcelona now and we wish him success with his decision on where to go,’ he told Qatari network Al Kass.
According to Spanish paper AS, Barcelona offered Xavi a two-and-a-half-year contract to become their new manager at the Nou Camp.
The report claimed that Abidal and Grau met with the former midfielder in Doha after Barca’s Spanish Super Cup defeat against Atletico Madrid in Saudi Arabia.
AS reported that their two-hour meeting was enough to convince the club’s chiefs to offer Xavi a deal to take over the job at the Nou Camp despite interests from Thierry Henry, Ronald Koeman and Roberto Martinez.
But now According to Spanish radio station RAC 1, Xavi believes this is not the time to become manager at Barcelona as he would prefer to start a project at the beginning of a new season.
There are conflicting reports from Spain so fans let us all be patient and not conclude just yet (MySportDab).
More to follow….
