First, Xavi said he was leaving.
In the fallout of a 5-3 home defeat by Villarreal on January 27, he described the Barcelona manager’s role as a “cruel job” that “wears you down”, adding: “At some point, you realise there’s no point in staying”.
But as results improved, Barcelona’s leaders began to let it be known they didn’t want him to go. “Yes, absolutely, I’d like him to stay,” said Barca president Joan Laporta in a March interview with Mundo Deportivo. “He keeps saying he’ll leave in June, but we’ll see.”
Xavi did eventually change his mind. On April 25, he posed with sporting director Deco and Laporta in a symbolic act of unity at the club’s training ground, celebrating the manager’s decision to remain in charge for another season.
“Stability is fundamental to any sporting project, and that’s what we wanted to provide,” Laporta said. “When there’s a bad moment in the club, to see that Xavi analyses it with the same passion we do, makes me feel sure about making the right call.”
Even considering this is Barcelona we’re talking about — a club that seems perpetually distracted by chaos and disorder — what has happened since defies belief.
Deco, Laporta and Xavi on April 25 (Adria Puig/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Not even a month on, there is a very real possibility that Barca will now sack Xavi.
The situation is still not entirely clear — and no final decision has yet been made — but an executive meeting early next week between Xavi, his staff, Deco and Laporta will settle the matter.
Other senior figures, such as executives Rafa Yuste, Enric Masip and Joan Soler will also attend, as well as Laporta’s advisor Alejandro Echevarria and Deco’s assistant Bojan Krkic.
According to club sources — who, like all those cited here, preferred to speak anonymously to protect their positions — the meeting will take place on Monday or Tuesday, after Barca’s final game of the season away to Sevilla on Sunday.
They also said the decision on Xavi’s future will heavily rely on a technical report Deco will compile on the manager.
This is pretty staggering, too, because it raises the question: why wasn’t any technical report considered a month ago when it was decided Xavi would stay on?
Instead, that decision seems to have been shaped largely by Laporta. But again, that’s Barcelona for you: unpredictable, volatile, a club where decision-making seems driven more by emotion than analysis.
With all that in mind, here’s what we’re hearing about the potential outcomes of that crunch meeting, set to take place at the club’s training facilities just a few days from now.
Will Xavi be sacked?
This is what a sizable faction at the club has wanted for months.
In December, several of Laporta’s closest advisors started suggesting the idea of parting ways with Xavi at the end of the season (he had extended terms until 2025 in September), after a series of poor performances, both in La Liga and the Champions League.
Xavi then made his dramatic announcement in January, so the matter seemed settled.
And despite publicly stating he wanted Xavi to reverse his decision, sources close to Laporta say Barca’s president later became convinced the club would be better off with a new manager for next season. Over the past month, sources close to Deco say the sporting director has come around to this view too, with a change of coach is what the team needs to progress.
Is Xavi’s time at Barcelona coming to an end… again? (Eric Alonso/Getty Images)
However, a late-night conversation between Laporta and Xavi at the former’s city-centre apartment on April 24 eventually led to the coach remaining in his post. Sources briefed on the matter said that Xavi made an impassioned speech detailing his desire to stay on, and this convinced Laporta.
One month on, that decision, taken solely by Laporta, has left Barca with a new problem. If Xavi is fired, he is entitled to compensation. Club sources say it would be worth around €15million (£12.8m; $16.2m), including money owed to his coaching staff. That is a lot for Barcelona’s troubled finances.
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There is an expectation among the board that Xavi — who has labelled himself a “man of the club” on multiple occasions this season, also saying he “would never become a problem for Barcelona” — would be willing to reach an agreement with the club over a lower sum.
However, even that would present a new and likely significant hurdle for the club, and any money paid to rescind coaching staff contracts will impact next season’s salary limit.
Still, the situation at Barca is that many senior figures remain convinced that sacking Xavi is the best option.
OK, so who would replace him?
Two names top Barcelona’s list: Hansi Flick and Rafael Marquez. Other options have previously been discussed, when the club first tentatively took steps to consider who might take over from Xavi following his January announcement. This included Thomas Tuchel and Roberto De Zerbi, but sources say neither are considered in the running now.
Let’s start with Flick. This week there have been contacts between the German and Deco. Club sources described them as positive, but said talks did not conclude with any definitive agreement or commitment on either side. The relationship between Barcelona and Flick will have to be fixed, though, for one to be found.
Back on April 24 — the day Laporta decided to keep Xavi on — Barca got in touch with Flick’s representatives. They wanted to inform him that Xavi was very likely to leave and that he was now well-positioned to replace him.
Flick at Germany training in September 2023 (Swen Pfortner/picture alliance via Getty Images)
But as the hours went by, a new turn of events saw Xavi, Deco and other executives hold their pivotal late talks at Laporta’s house. Flick was then told that the situation had changed.
A club source involved in the process said Flick’s camp “were not happy, to say the least”. But his candidacy has not been forgotten — and is especially favoured by Laporta.
Flick’s potential move to Barcelona seemed to gather pace when, in February, he agreed to work with football agent Pini Zahavi, one of Laporta’s closest friends in the game and the agent who brokered Robert Lewandowski’s transfer from Bayern Munich.
The German manager would bring his winning experience at Bayern as his biggest credential. He’s led elite dressing rooms and worked in the past with Lewandowski in Munich, and with Marc-Andre ter Stegen and Ilkay Gundogan with Germany.
Flick, according to well-placed sources, can be described as Laporta’s candidate to replace Xavi. In Deco’s mind, however, it should be Rafael Marquez.
Marquez has been in charge of Barcelona Atletic since 2022 (Alex Caparros/Getty Images)
Sources close to Deco say he believes the former Mexico centre-back — and a former Barca team-mate of Deco’s — is ready to make the step up from the club’s reserve side that plays in Spain’s third tier. Marquez, 45, has been coach of Barcelona Atletic since the summer of 2022, his only senior role in management to date.
But back in February, Deco didn’t sound totally convinced. He described Marquez as “a professional who is growing in the club”, adding: “We are not thinking about him becoming the first-team manager. President Laporta said that if there was any urgent measure to be taken, he could step up there temporarily — but any decision for the long-term future needs a deeper analysis.”
A lot of things have happened in the club since. Except, it seems, the mentioned “analysis”.
Marquez would be a cheaper option than Flick. His time in charge at Barca Atletic means he has great experience of working with the club’s emerging young talents. He has made his way up on a path that Xavi rejected — the latter preferring only to return as first-team manager.
Whether Marquez gets the job or not, this summer could be a crucial time for him. He is out of contract after the end of the season — which will run into June as Barca Atletic contest the promotion play-offs for a place in Spain’s second division. If he is not chosen to replace Xavi, there is a big chance he will decide to leave.
Could Xavi stay?
Despite all of this, and as unlikely as it might sound, there is still a chance that Xavi ends up staying.
As we have already seen, Xavi certainly has his opponents (and he is definitely under pressure), but a well-placed source in Barcelona’s board put it like this: “If Xavi convinced Laporta once, I can’t see why he couldn’t do it a second time.”
All of Xavi’s chances of staying will depend on how next week’s meeting unfolds. Right now, though, sources close to him are not afraid to hide their sadness and frustration over how the events of the past week have been handled.
Laporta has twice rejected a request from the manager to have a face-to-face meeting to address the latest rumours over his future. The president ended up setting up next week’s group meeting instead.
If Xavi succeeds again in his quest to remain in charge, then Barcelona could forget about any severance payments due, and there would be no rush to hire new staff or make tough choices to make between potential new candidates.
But there’s no getting away from what many fans have been most struck by through these turbulent recent events: that a club legend like Xavi has been left isolated and exposed due to Barca’s confused handling of such a pivotal decision.
(Lluis Gene/AFP via Getty Images)
