Four times Barcelona signed a player instead of Xavi’s transfer demands – report

After two and a half years as the head coach of Barcelona, Xavi has announced his decision to leave the club at the end of the season. The Spaniard claimed that he felt like the club needed a change of dynamic, and that his work was not acknowledged enough.

And he would be right about that. Taking over Barcelona, in the financial situation they were in, with no promise of any signings, a constant injury crisis, under a new administration, and with the expectations to deliver results while playing excellent football was all too much.

Despite that, Xavi delivered a La Liga win and a Spanish Super Cup in his first full season as the manager while instilling a record-breaking defensive line. None of this was credited appropriately by the media, fans, or the board.

Not to mention, the countless times Xavi could not sign the transfer target of his desire to fix the holes in the team. According to SPORT, there were four prominent instances of this.

Romeu instead of Zubimendi

Xavi’s first-choice target in the summer to replace Sergio Busquets was Martin Zubimendi. The Real Sociedad midfielder, though, has a release clause of €60 million, and seems happy with the Basque outfit.

Barça evidently did not have any money for this transfer and instead chased down Oriol Romeu from Girona for €3.5 million. The Spaniard started off well, but his performances have taken a steep decline since, with a summer exit inevitable.

Gundogan instead of Bernardo

Ilkay Gundogan has been Barcelona’s player of the season so far, and it is not even a point of contention given the form his teammates have been in.

But the German was never Xavi’s priority. Instead, he wanted his teammate Bernardo Silva. The Portuguese was close to leaving Manchester City two years ago, but Barcelona were never able to shell out the asking price of €80 million-plus.

Cancelo instead of Foyth

Another player who has done exceedingly well this season is Joao Cancelo, on loan from Manchester City. However, fans following Barcelona would know that the player Xavi had actually demanded, in 2022 was Juan Foyth.

The Villarreal right-back was coming off a tremendous season then, and fit Xavi’s plans as an inverted full-back brilliantly.

His asking price, too, was set quite high, so Barcelona had to eventually loan in Cancelo after using Jules Kounde as a right-back last season.

Lewandowski instead of Haaland

The Erling Haaland to Manchester City transfer happened in the same window as Robert Lewandowski’s move to Barcelona. And while it is true that the Catalans tried their best to pursue the Norwegian, he was eventually persuaded by Pep Guardiola.

It is interesting to note, though, that eventually both transfers ended up costing round about a similar figure, especially without the extra-add ons paid by City to his agents.