'New Pep' or overrated? Why Xavi is at risk at Barcelona

Paul Macdonald

• 27 Feb 2023 12:30 GMT
• 4 min read

It might seem weird to hear that Xavi is under pressure at Barcelona, but that is very much the case.

On the face of it, Barcelona look better than they did a year ago, and are playing football closer to the ‘Barcelona style’ - their build-up is patient, and very much from the Pep Guardiola mould.

But this last week has cast further scrutiny over Xavi’s abilities as a coach. President Joan Laporta was never particularly sold on him being the leader of the new Barcelona, but there’s no doubt that he has backed his boss.

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Barca have pulled levers here, there and everywhere in order to fund the squad revolution that was deemed absolutely necessary. For a club supposedly in dire financial straits - over €1.2 billion of debt, and counting - they still shifted percentages of future revenues to spend over €165 million on Jules Kounde, Raphinha and Robert Lewandowski.

They also funded the free transfers of Marcos Alonso, Andreas Christensen, Hector Bellerin, Franck Kessie. They bought Ferran Torres from Manchester City last January for €50m more. They gave Ousmane Dembele his new contract. It’s a lot of money.

And despite them currently sitting seven points clear at the top of La Liga and with the chance to break the league’s defensive record (they’ve conceded just eight goals in 23 league matches), it’s still not right.

Barcelona beaten by Man Utd

This week has been an eye-opener for Laporta and Barcelona’s direction of travel. Manchester United outfought and and out-thought them over two legs in the Europa League, representing yet another European failure Xavi has overseen. An extended run in continental competition was budgeted for and integral to ensuring that the spending outlay was, at the very least, covered by broadcasting and matchday revenue. That’s now gone.

And the 1-0 defeat to Almeria revealed something a little more underlying that will be of further concern. There have been narrow wins for Barca that could have gone either way of late, on the expected goals battle at least. Getafe, Girona and Villarreal were all defeated by a single goal but Barca were either defeated or at least matched on the xG battle.

United were ultimately better than them over two legs and could have won by more at Camp Nou, while Almeria’s street smarts exposed Barca at the weekend. There’s a sense that if everything is going well, Barca will be fine, but the slightest adversity can still send this team off course.

The first leg of the Copa del Rey semi-final is on Thursday. The Catalan press are already identifying this as a key match for the team and the coach and Real Madrid’s gruelling schedule of late has also participated in the gap at the top. There’s a definite feeling in Madrid that the league is far from over and that a Copa win could leave Barca looking vulnerable.

And then there’s the signings. Raphinha, for being the marquee arrival, has simply not been impactful enough, often enough. That he was removed with 25 mins to go at Old Trafford while chasing the game speaks volumes. Kessie doesn’t seem to fit the criteria of any position in a Barcelona midfield, while Torres’ impact a year down the line has been absolutely minimal. And even Lewandowski, the sole source of goals, has just one from open play in his last six matches and was chaperoned easily by Lisandro Martinez over the two games.

It proves that much of the excitement around this Barca team comes back down to Pedri and Gavi, the youngsters who were already primed in the first team before Xavi even got here. Those two are the present and the future of this team, and everything else built around them seems somewhat squandered.

And so while, on the face of it, Barcelona are on the road to recovery, it’s far from perfect and far from the season Laporta expected. And much of what’s been good hasn’t really been down to Xavi. What happens between now and May will have a significant impact on where Barcelona go next.