Page 4 – Xavi SOS

Barcelona in Favor of Xavi as Coach

Barcelona has a new chief in Ronald Koeman who has also been looking forward to this being his dream job. However, the task does involve having to oust some older team members who are in their thirties but legends themselves. With these tasks in front of him, his tenure might be a short one and last till last year since the club’s top management is currently eyeing Xavi and wish to pick him up for the assignment next year.

Xavi is currently handling Al Sadd of Qatar but Barcelona wants him as the manager for the tenure of 2021 to 2022. It is likely that Victor Front might unseat the current president of the club, Josep Maria Bartomeu in March elections. The font would want Xavi who is considered one of the Barca legends if he is able to win in the presidential vote. The font feels that Xavi has a greater understanding of the club and how it stays together. Since the board of directors would be deciding on the next manager for the club, the vote would go for Xavi.
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DAVID SILVA TO JOIN XAVI IN QATAR

Manchester City playmaker David Silva is set to join former Barcelona star Xavi Hernandez in Qatar, as per reports. Silva is expected to exit City this summer after a decade of meritorious service. The 34-year old once spoke of returning to the La Liga to play for Valencia but not much has been reported about that. He went through the club academy, playing for Valencia B in 2003 before joining the first team a year later.

Silva went on loan spells to Eibar and Celta de Vigo before stabilizing in 2005. For five years he was one of the best central and attacking midfielders in Spain. City convinced him to move to England in 2010 for 30 million euros. His talent speaks for him hence the buzz even though he is 34 and injury prone.
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CHELSEA ENTER RACE FOR AUBAMEYANG

Chelsea have entered the race to sign Arsenal captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. In a twist of plot the Blues have emerged as a serious contender for the signature of the Gabon international, amid uncertainties over the players long-term commitment at London rivals Arsenal.

Players moving for free among London clubs has happened on a number of occasions. Sol Campbell left Spurs to join Arsenal on a free in 2002. Ashley Cole also left the Gunners to join the Blues while William Gallas moved the opposite direction. Petr Cech and David Luiz have also swapped clubs within London recently.

Xavi takes Award on Behalf of Afif Akram

Xavi Hernández, the former Spain and Barcelona legend and Gianni Infantino, the present president of FIFA are going to be in town for bringing the Asian football into the limelight in 2019 AFC Annual Awards that was held on Monday, 2nd December.

Saki Kumagai, the legendary woman of Japanese football and Akram Hassan, the Qatari star of men’s football deservedly took up the marquee awards of the player of the year as Hong Kong Football Association bagged the award in the category of AFC developing member association at Convention and Exhibition Center in Hong Kong, Wan Chai.

VALVERDE NEEDS TO FIND THE RIGHT MIDFIELD COMBINATION

Barcelona have struggled this season with manager Ernesto Valverde having to change his options in the team as they look forward to challenging for trophies. New signings, Antoine Griezmann, and Frenkie De Jong have endured mixed starts to the season.

There have been several blames towards the manager that he has lost the culture that made Barcelona the best team in Europe in the past decade. However, Valverde has had to work with the most unbalanced Barcelona squad in recent years.

The midfield, in particular, has been the major problem for Valverde. Pep Guardiola was able to bank on prime, Iniesta, Xavi and Busquet. The trio controlled games letting Lionel Messi focus solely on scoring goals.

Xavi was the creative passer, Iniesta the creative dribbler and Busquet the creative ball retention player. This was peak Barcelona that would pass teams to death with their ball movements and creativity. Cesc Fabregas and Thiago could also come from the bench and recreate a similar style like Xavi and Iniesta.

Luis Enrique met a fading Xavi and quickly got Rakitic to partner Iniesta and Busquet but crucially had Neymar in the attack.

This meant that there was less emphasis on retaining possession with the team looking to pick the front three of Messi, Suarez, and Neymar in dangerous positions.

Under Valverde, the team has become more reliant on Messi as Suarez has faded and Neymar is no more at the club. This means that the midfield has to come up with more creativity and goals to support the attack. This becomes more obvious when is not on the pitch which is partially why Valverde intends to use wide forwards to stretch the pitch.

The faster he gets a working midfield triumvirate the better for Barcelona and Frenkie de Jong, Arthur, and Busquet may be the solution.

BARCELONA STAR CLOSING IN ON TRANSFER

Coutinho has been linked with several clubs this summer as he seems to end his stay at Barcelona PSG and Bayern Munich have shown interest, and the Brazilian is thought to be on his way to one of this clubs is in a hurry to negotiate the departure of the Brazilian midfielder from the Catalan club.

GiulianoBertolucci, one of Philippe Coutinho’s representatives, was spotted on Wednesday morning in Barcelona. It is understood, that Bertolucci traveled exclusively to try to resolve the situation of the Brazilian midfielderthis week.

Before arriving in Spain, the Italian agent, partner of Kia Joorabchian, was in Paris engaging in conversations with Paris Saint-Germain which is one of the clubs interested in the former Liverpool player.

The future of Coutinho, however, is Bertolucci’s great concern at this time. Today, there are two possibilities for the South American player who won the Copa America with Brazil in the summer.

He could accept to be part of the player plus cash payment of the signing ofNeymar from PSG.The 27 year old could also make a direct transfer to the French club that does not include Neymar’s departure.

He also has the option of moving to Bayern Munich if the Germanchampion could reach a loandeal fromBarcelona with a purchase option.

Offloading Philippe Coutinho as soon as possible is one of the main priorities of Barcelona, withrumours saying that the club is ready to loan the player for free.

In addition to the fact that Ernesto Valverde needs space in his workforce due to the arrival of Antoine Griezmann , the Brazilian has one of the highest salaries in the team: as he receives around 11 million euros per season.

Coutinho was seen as the heir to Xavi in the Barcelona midfield but has failed to justify the big money transfer that Barcelona invested in his signing. He was signed by the Catalan club in January 2018 for 160 million euros and his contract runs until June 2023.

Xavi Hernandez is All Set for Managerial Debut

In the month of May, he announced his retirement from football and then he named as the new name of Qatari side Al-Sadd, he has been officially appointed as the new coach. Not just this, but the managerial debut of Xavi has not got the date and venue as well. Al-Sadd has now been appointed to play a match, this match will not be called as the official one, but it will be played somewhere near to home.

The coaching career of Xavi will begin on Sunday that is 21^st of July. His team will play a friendly match against Palamos CF. The match will take place at Estadi Palamós-Costa Brava and it will help at 20.00h according to Catalan coast local time, the venue of 100km far from away from Terrassa, his native.
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