Football
Xavi makes U-turn on Barcelona future
Xavi Hernandez has decided to stay and fulfil his contract as head coach at Barcelona until the end of the 2024-2025 season, despite handing his resignation in for the end of this campaign in January, according to multiple reports in the Spanish media.
Joan Laporta’s house has been the meeting place where the future of the Barcelona coach has been decided this Wednesday. And this, finally, is to stay on as coach of the first team after reported talks.
Xavi resigned on January 27th in deferred form, with an end-date set at June 30th, after being beaten at home by Villarreal. He considered it necessary for the team to react following the news.
And so he did. But it has not given them enough to stay in the Champions League, nor to beat Real Madrid in a Clasico that could have given them the chance to fight for the league title.
Even so, the improvement has been evident and the public support of the squad, the fans as well as sporting director Deco and Laporta themselves have made him rethink his situation.
The commitment to the youth academy in very difficult economic times for the club has also been exceptionally valued. There are the breakthrough seasons of Lamine Yamal and Pau Cubarsi, or the appearances of Fermin and to a lesser extent Hector Fort or Marc Guiu.
It remains to be seen what conditions Xavi has asked for in order to fulfil his original contract that officially still remains, as he renewed it a few months ago until 2025. There are also question marks as to the conditions of Joan Laporta himself, who was not going to give him a blank cheque, but wanted him to stay at all costs.
It seems that there will be changes in his technical team, with special interest put into the physical preparation of the players.
