Xavi looks to be heading to Barcelona, but his current club Al-Sadd “jumped the gun” and made the announcement official on their Twitter page, something within the corridors of the Nou Camp members of the Barcelona brass did not like as they are claiming no deal has been reached. The tweet by Al-Sadd began to circulate and every news agency in the world has reported that Xavi is now set to become Barcelona’s new coach.
According to Mundo Deportivo in Spain, at 11:49 AM local time, Al Sadd made the announcement that Xavi would be moving on to Barcelona, which was immediately relayed across the world. The CEO of Al-Sadd Turki Al-Ali ten minutes later issued this statement: “The Al Sadd administration has agreed on Xavi’s move to Barcelona after the payment of the release clause stipulated in the contract. We’ve agreed on cooperation with Barcelona in the future. Xavi is an important part of Al-Sadd’s history, and we wish him success.”
By 1PM local time Barcelona interim coach Sergi Barjuan stated: “Al-Sadd has made the statement, Barça has not yet. We have to wait for it to be on both sides. We have a good relationship and I have contact with (Xavi). Any questions with (Xavi) I will be happy to help the club”. By 1:30 PM local time sources within Barcelona deny there is an official agreement to bring Xavi to Barcelona.
Barcelona deny agreement with Al-Sadd over Xavi
While it is no mystery that the top candidate to take over Barcelona is Xavi, at the moment Barcelona has not made the deal official. What is being reported by Mundo Deportivo is that Barcelona is upset with Al-Sadd for making an announcement and the Catalan club views it as pressure to push the deal through and pay the 5-million-euro release clause on Xavi’s contract.
Barcelona, who are in huge economic turmoil, is reported to not want to pay the 5 million euro release clause in Xavi’s contract, something that if true will most likely kill the deal as Xavi has a contract with Al Sadd until 2023. For the moment Barcelona still does not have a coach.
UPDATE: Xavi will not pay his release clause as reported out of Spain, and Xavi and Barcelona remain calm that a deal will be reached.