Barcelona appoint Xavi Hernandez as head coach

Barcelona appoint Xavi Hernandez as head coach

by Joseph Anthony
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Xavi Hernandez played 779 games and won 25 titles with Barca

Barcelona have named former midfielder and captain Xavi Hernandez as head coach on a contract until 2024, following the sacking of Ronald Koeman.

The La Liga club received the green light on Friday to sign the 41-year-old after they paid the release clause in his contract with Qatari side Al-Sadd.
Xavi played for Barcelona for 17 years, making 767 appearances and winning 25 trophies, including four Champions League wins and eight league titles.
โ€œFC Barcelona have reached an agreement with Xavi Hernandez for him to become first team coach for the rest of the current season and two more seasons,โ€ the club said in a statement that was headlined โ€œWELCOME BACK HOME, XAVI!โ€
โ€œXavi Hernandez, a youth team product at Barca, has left his current club, Al-Sadd of Qatar, after talks held over the last few days with the owners of the club.โ€
Dutch coach Koeman was sacked after a 1-0 defeat by Rayo Vallecano last month which left Barca, as it is commonly known, ninth in LaLiga.
The club are still in ninth place after Sergi Barjuan was appointed as caretaker coach and sit nine points behind leaders Real Sociedad with a game in hand.
Barjuan is set to remain in charge for their league match at Celta Vigo on Saturday, with Xavi arriving in Barcelona this weekend before his presentation on Monday.
โ€œIt wasnโ€™t goodbye, it was โ€˜see you soonโ€™. The Camp Nou has always been my home,โ€ Xavi said in a video addressed to the fans.
โ€œYouโ€™re my fans, my people, the club that I love the most. And now, Iโ€™m coming home. See you soon, Culers. Forca Barca!โ€
Xaviโ€™s first game would be a local derby against Espanyol on November 20, after the international break.
A former Spain international, Xavi joined Al Sadd as a player in 2015, becoming the head coach after hanging up his boots in 2019. In April, he led his side to the Qatari domestic league title with the team unbeaten.
He turned down the chance to coach Barca in January 2020 after Ernesto Valverde was sacked, but remained linked with the job even after Koeman succeeded Quique Setien in August of last year.
Nicknamed the โ€œMaquinaโ€ (the Machine), Xavi is widely considered one of Barcelonaโ€™s greatest-ever players and there is huge excitement about his potential as a coach after his influence on the iconic Barca team managed by Pep Guardiola.
His passing style was seen as the embodiment of Guardiolaโ€™s โ€œtiki-takaโ€ team that won the treble in 2009.
โ€œOne of the greatest midfield maestros of all time, he helped redefine the art with his creative mind, pinpoint passing and sublime ability to read the game,โ€ Barca said in their statement, heralding the return of โ€œan absolute legendโ€.
Xavi faces a formidable challenge after Barcelona let Lionel Messi join Paris Saint-Germain in the summer.
The club are also in dire financial straits, having posted debts of 1.35 billion euros ($1.6bn).
In Europe, Barca face a fight even to qualify for the knock-out stages of the Champions League while any rebuilding will have to be carried out on a shoestring budget as the club struggles to deal with the debts it partly built up paying Messiโ€™s wages.
Xavi will also be charged with improving the teamโ€™s style of play, which was a key criticism during the tenure of Koeman, another former Barca player.
SOURCE: NEWS AGENCIES

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