Now the time has finally come …
FC Barcelona are about to sign their prodigal son. The club legend and the current Al-Sadd coach Xavi (41) will be the new head coach for the Catalans. There should be final talks on Friday, and the official announcement should take place in the afternoon or on Saturday at the latest, as the Spanish media unanimously report.
In the past few days, the soap opera was about the successor to Ronald Koeman (58). Will Al-Sadd release the trainer? Can he finally go back to his old place of work?
Curious: a delegation of the Catalans traveled to Qatar for talks. But: Xavi is apparently largely conducting the negotiations with those responsible for Al-Sadd himself!
Sequentially. The Catalan newspaper “Sport” reports that Vice President Rafa Yuste and Football Director Mateu Alemany have traveled to the emirate. They met for talks with Xavi and his brother Oscar. Together they had agreed that Xavi should be present at the meeting with Al-Sadd President Mohamad bin Khalifa al-Thani – which in retrospect turned out to be a good decision …
Because: Al-Thani had apparently expected that Barça President Joan Laporta would lead the negotiations. However, he decided not to travel there. Al-Thani therefore held the talks with Xavi as the representative of the Catalans …
There are apparently three options on the table. First: The Sheikh lets Xavi move to his dream club on a free transfer. Second, if there is no agreement, Barcelona will pay a transfer fee of five million euros. Or third: Al-Sadd reduces the transfer fee, if necessary Barça could play a friendly against Al-Sadd.