Al Sadd has finally announced the departure of Xavi to Barcelona following a week filled with high level of speculations. The former Barcelona player will now take over the role of head coach of the Blaugrana.
The official statement of Al Sadd states that Xavi made the decision to Barcelona and the club did not want to get involved in his decision. Barcelona will now pay the Qatari club Xavi’s release clause which is €5million.
The Barcelona legend left Camp Nou in 2015 after helping the club win 25 trophies, including four Champions Leagues and eight La Liga titles, in 17 seasons. He played for Al Sadd for four years before becoming their manager in 2019.
The 41-year-old has been tipped to take over the reigns since the sacking of Ernesto Valverde, but it didn’t happen because Xavi was still enjoying his profilic run as the manager of Al Sadd. Barcelona brought in Ronald Koeman, but the Dutch man failed to take the club to the next level after series of poor performances including three El classico defeats.
He was eventually sacked last week following the 1-0 loss to Rayo Vallecano, and it looked like Xavi was back in contention to become the club’s new manager. It was believed to be all done, but Al Sadd were reluctant in letting Xavi go at the start of the week.
The Barcelona board had to fly to Qatar to hold talks with the club, and after days of negotiations, Al Sadd announced in the early hours of today that they have decided to let Xavi go. The 2010 FIFA World Cup winner has now bid farewell to the team, and the staffs and the Qatari club has wished him well in their official statement.
Xavi doesn’t possess alot of managerial experience but his performance with Al Sadd has been top notch, winning seven trophies in his two-year spell. Barcelona will make official announcement soon and Xavi will take charge of his first game against Espanyol on November 20 after the international break.
