Xavi has reconsidered his departure. The tie against PSG, the first 120 minutes, in which Barça was two goals ahead, made the Terrassa coach very excited and, although on January 31 he announced that he would leave the Barça bench, he always left a gap for be able to continue. Does that mean that he will be the coach of Barcelona in the 2024-25 season? It would be a lot of running.
Both parties must convince each other. Xavi, who has one more year on his contract, needs to verify that the will is to give a boost to the project after a failed season. Meanwhile, the leadership wants to confirm that the coach is convinced, strong and identifies with them. They will meet discreetly this week and at that meeting the cards must be turned face up.
The first point of the meeting script must be to take stock of a season that has been the opposite of what was expected. They wanted to open a new era (with the Super Cup and the League) and it will close blank. The goal was to take a step forward in terms of play and demands and it has meant, in terms of ambition, a step back, away from Madrid and with irregular football. Little background and few objectives achieved. The only joy has come in the Champions League, where the team has reached the quarterfinals five years later. The economy and the self-esteem of Barcelona fans have thanked him.
However, another conclusion can be drawn from last week's double disappointment. Despite the defeats, Barcelona has competed head-to-head with PSG and Real Madrid. At times he dominated them but he lacked luck (refereeing) and they condemned his competitive fragility, with major individual errors.
Curiously, these failures have not been a thing of youth. On the contrary. The kids have shown superb personality. And that is another point that Xavi can claim, that he does not want to miss the current generation of youth players. He has been the one who has given them the alternative and he would like to be the tutor of their growth. Lamine Yamal, Cubarsí, Héctor Fort but also Fermín or Guiu. It would be difficult with another coach to have added 113 games between the five, to which we must add Gavi and Balde. Xavi sees a long way to go and has an influence with young people, just as he does not hide his excitement about opening the Spotify Camp Nou.
Barcelona has two lucks with Xavi. One is that he is a coach who knows what he wants and sees football with a Barça perspective. The other is that many of today's stars had him as an idol. That is to say, when they receive the call from him they are delighted and predisposed. Barça enters on the right foot when it heads towards its objectives.
For some time now, the man from Terrassa has detected two deficits in the squad: a midfielder and a playmaker. And he would like to be heard this summer. The names were, are and will be Zubimendi or Kimmich and Bernardo Silva, with a clause of 58 million for Barça.
They are important signings in terms of investment. But this season we have seen that what is cheap (Romeu, João Félix, Cancelo) is expensive. Deco has already commented that it will be difficult to achieve the 1 to 1 rule to register new signings. This means that to strengthen itself well the club needs to make at least one sale of one important player, if not two. Xavi should agree to get rid of that heavyweight. He wants to have a say in that exit, no matter how painful it may be.
Xavi wants to feel more accompanied. Both internally and from the outside. In the sports city he is usually seen with Deco but no one can deny that the Portuguese is a figure (unique, unlike the previous Alemany-Cruyff tandem) very close to the board.
It is not the only place where presence and influence in the hallways must be increased. We also have to gain weight at the highest levels of the institutions that run the competitions such as UEFA, LaLiga and the RFEF. It is invisible work. Because there is something that Xavi and President Laporta already agree on, and that is that there are several key moments in which referee decisions have penalized the Blaugrana interests, which have always come up with a cross. There is harmony there. For something one starts.
