I have not received any offers from Barcelona, it is true that I met Abidal but because he is my friend
Al-Sadd have confirmed that negotiations have begun between Xavi and Barcelona for the former midfielder to return to Camp Nou as coach. Speculation over Ernesto Valverde's future has reached fever pitch since Thursday's Supercopa loss at the hands of Atletico Madrid.
Barca threw away a 2-1 lead in the final minutes to go down at the semi-final stage, allowing Diego Simeone's men to advance to the decider against Real on Sunday. Reports Goal.
While Valverde had already been widely tipped to stand down at the end of the current season, Supercopa disappointment has apparently injected rather more urgency into the matter for the Catalans.
And, on Saturday morning, both Barcelona sports dailies, Sport and Mundo Deportivo , ran front page stories claiming that Xavi had been identified as the man to replace the current incumbent.
Xavi's current club Al-Sadd initially dismissed the reports , but on Saturday the Qataris' sporting director admitted that talks were underway. "There are negotiations between Xavi and Barcelona now and we wish him the best of luck wherever he goes," Ghulam Al Balushi signalled to Alkass.
The coach himself tried to play down his meeting with Eric Abidal, stating that he was not discussing the possibility of succeeding Valverde. "My dream is always to be a Barcelona coach but currently I am Al-Sadd coach and my main focus is in Al-Sadd. "
They were here to talk to me and we discussed many things, they were here also to check how Ousmane Dembele is and that's all, I cannot say anything."Xavi is currently in his first coaching job after hanging up his boots with Al-Sadd in 2019 at the age of 39.
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