Al-Sadd respond to rumours linking Xavi to Barcelona job

Stefan Bienkowski

• 29 Oct 2021 15:52 CDT
• 5 min read

Qatari side Al-Sadd have responded to rumours linking their manager, Xavi, as a successor to Ronald Koeman at Barcelona.

The Dutch manager was relieved of his duties on Wednesday night after his side lost a league clash with Rayo Vallecano.

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Koeman’s departure has led to a number of managers being linked with the role, but Xavi has quickly been established as the frontrunner and bookies favourite.

Xavi first joined Al-Sadd as a player in 2015 and eventually finished his playing career at the club, when he hung up his boots in May 2019.

Shortly afterwards, the former Spain international was announced as the club’s new manager and has taken the club to the semi-finals of the AFC Champions League, along with three domestic tournaments over the course of the past two years.

As such, Al-Sadd hold Xavi in high regards and after a flurry of rumours linking him with a return to Spain, the Qatari club took to social media to quell any fears of the manager departing their club.

They said: “In response to what’s circulating recently, the Al Sadd management reaffirms that Xavi has a two-year contract with the club and is fully focused on the team’s upcoming matches, to maintain our lead at the top of the league and to defend the title.”

Will Xavi become the next Barca manager?

While Al-Sadd may remain convinced that Xavi will be staying put in the Middle East, reports in Spain and comments from Barcelona’s own president would suggest otherwise.

At a press conference on Friday, president Joan Laporta was asked about the possibility of Xavi replacing Koeman as the next Barcelona manager and he did very little to discourage such notions.

"I have always said one day [Xavi] will be Barca's head coach but I don't know when," said Laporta at a press conference on Friday.

He added: "We have great references about Xavi at AL SADD. All our reports about Xavi are positive. We can talk a lot about Xavi, but I cannot give you more details. He is in all the papers, but we also have other options."