Xavier Hernández Creus, aka Xavi, has expressed his hopes to come back to his former football team, FC Barcelona, as the head coach.
The aspiration to be the next Barcelona head coach comes timely with the recent news that the current head coach sub, Quique Setien, is under fire after heated tension between him and the players has been reported by several media outlets.
Allegedly, Xavi was initially linked with the Barca head coach vacancy earlier in the year, following Ernesto Valverde getting booted and before choosing Setien.
Xavi’s interview expressing his hope for a Barcelona return
Currently, Xavi coaches FOR Qatari club Al Sadd. Per Reuters, Xavi reportedly expressed his hopes to return to Barcelona, when the time is right.
Media outlet quotes Xavi in his recent video call interview with Spanish daily Sport saying, “The biggest hope I have now is to be Barca coach and get Barca back to winning ways.”
He then plans to “start from scratch,” should he takes over as Barcelona coach.
“I’m a club man. I would like to return at the right moment to start a project from zero. I’ve said it a lot of times but I want to take footballing decisions at Barcelona,” Xavi added. “It’s clear that after the elections the stage would be set, of course. I’m not ruling anything out.”
“Xavi is unique; there won’t be another player like him. The style of Barcelona and the national team was forged through him.”
One of a kind 😎 pic.twitter.com/9cA32qfp21
— GOAL (@goal) June 5, 2020
He then confirmed that the Barca executives did approach him earlier in the year before they offered the position to Setien. Xavi expressed that he denied the offer as the “circumstances and timing weren’t right.”
Per Goal, Xavi earned a total of 25 trophies during his playing career with Barca, back in the day. His former teammate, Juan Antonio Pizzi, spoke highly of him, saying he is the “future of Barcelona.”
Other Barca news
Meanwhile, Barca is currently experiencing internal conflicts, with a number of reports alleging the presence of players’ unrest towards their current coaching staff, headed by Quique Setien.
Lionel Messi and other veteran players are getting mixed fan feedback after they saw Messi allegedly dismissing Setien’s coach assistant during the heated match against Celta Vigo Last Saturday.
This is very clear that Messi does not respect Eder Sarabia, Quique Setien's assistant manager.
A shame that Barcelona is going through this. https://t.co/c77ysunsID
— Bill Eshun (@Bill_Eshun) June 29, 2020
Barca players are set to face Atletico Madrid, who currently trails behind at 51 points. All eyes are this match, come Tuesday, as this is likely a deciding game for Messi and the rest.
The result of this match will define their current standing, whether or not they can overthrow Real Madrid at the top rank. A loss will likely hint conceding to Real for this season.
Featured image courtesy of Doha Stadium Plus Qatar/Flickr