Deco says Xavi’s decision to leave Barcelona is “irreversible”, denies talks with potential new manager
There is never a boring day in FC Barcelona Land, and the new chapter of the club’s daily soap opera has been created by rumors in the last few days that Xavi Hernández could change his mind and decide not to leave the job of first team head coach at the end of the season if Barça make a deep run in the Champions League and find a way to challenge for the La Liga title in the last two months of the campaign.
Barça’s improvement in results and performances since Xavi’s announcement last January has been noticeable, and there has been plenty of skepticism regarding the club’s ability to find a suitable replacement between now and the end of June. Many names have been linked with the job and the likes of Hansi Flick and Roberto De Zerbi seem to be the favorites, but there has been very little movement on that front in recent weeks.
And that lack of progress in the manager search has been confirmed by Barça sporting director Deco, who spoke in a radio interview this week and made it clear that there have been no talks with a potential new manager yet, and that the entire club is focused on a strong end to the season before they finalize their decision.
Deco also said that Xavi has not changed his mind about leaving yet, but the coach will have the opportunity to reverse his original decision if he chooses to do so.
”I’ve already been asked about 10 times if Xavi is leaving or not. We’re in La Liga and the Champions League, there are goals to achieve and we can’t be asking the same question every day. Xavi continues to tell us that his decision is irreversible. If something changes, he must tell us. If he tells us he wants to continue, we should talk to him.
“There have been no negotiations with any coach. When you know your coach is leaving, we know who is available or not available. We are watching, but we have not made any moves. When the ‘Fair Play’ situation is clarified and we know what we can do, even if Xavi tells us he is continuing, we will have to talk to him about the options.”
Source: Cadena SER
It’s interesting that Deco doesn’t rule out the possibility of Xavi staying at the club, and obviously no one would say no if Xavi decides to stick around after a miracle run all the way to the Champions League title. But it does appear that Xavi’s mind is set no matter what, and Deco already seems to know his favorite candidates for the new manager job and will approach them when the time is right.
