Xavi: I respect Koeman, but I want the Barcelona job

Martin Macdonald

• Updated: 17 May 2021 18:38 BST
• 2 min read

Xavi has reiterated his desire to become the head coach of Barcelona at some point in his career.

The World Cup winner’s playing career was mostly spent at the Camp Nou before spending four years will Al Sadd from 2014 to 2019.

In May of 2019 he took over as head coach of Al Sadd and is currently still with the Qatar outfit, having won the Qatar Cup in 2020.

He is a product of Barcelona’s famed La Masia academy and so has the culture and ethos of the club engrained in him, which has led to continued speculation that he will return to Catalunya at some point to take over as Barcelona boss.

Xavi’s appointment would be viewed in a similar fashion to that of Pep Guardiola being hired in 2008 after being head coach of Barcelona B.

The 41-year-old was believed to be a leading contender to replace Quique Setien as boss in the summer, only for the club to look to another former player in Ronald Koeman.

Though Xavi respects Koeman’s current role as head coach, he has spoken again of his dream to return to the Camp Nou as boss.

“Right now, I’m at Al Sadd and I’m doing well here. I’m at a big club in Asia, in Qatar. It’s the best team in Qatar,” he told the official FIFA website.

“We’ll see what happens in the future. Everyone sees me as a Barcelona coach, and I really respect Barcelona and Koeman, the current head coach.

“I don’t want to hide the truth – of course I would like to be Barcelona’s head coach. I’ve said it many times.

“But I will always respect the presiding coach and the club. I wish them the best of course. I’ve been a Barcelona fan as long as I can remember. 

“There’s an upcoming presidential election, so let’s see which candidate wins in roughly a month’s time.”

In the 2019/20 season, Barcelona suffered through their first campaign in 12 years without winning a trophy, while they have regressed further under Koeman in 2020/21.

The Blaugrana are currently third in La Liga, nine points adrift of leaders Atletico Madrid, while they require a miracle second-leg performance against PSG in the Champions League to remain in the competition, having lost the first leg of their last 16 tie against the French champions 4-1 this week.