DBasia.news – Barcelona has officially announced the appointment of Xavi Hernandez as the new coach. But a polemic has accompanied the return of the former Camp Nou public idol.
Barcelona does need a new coach after sacking Ronald Koeman. Xavi’s name quickly became the sole candidate to fill the position.
But Barcelona can not simply appoint Xavi as coach. That’s because he is still under contract with Al Sadd.
Al Sadd officials had fenced off Xavi from the target of Barcelona. They are in a strong position as the coach is under contract until 2023.
But the Al Sadd boss was unable to do much when Xavi asked permission to return to Barcelona. The Catar club was also willing to release him for a compensation fee of five million euros.
This is a polemic. Barcelona are reportedly reluctant to fulfill Al Sadd’s request because they are experiencing a financial crisis.
This problem is believed to have delayed Xavi’s move to Barcelona. Negotiations between the parties involved seem to have reached a dead end.
However, Barcelona’s official announcement indicates that the problem of compensation costs has been resolved. However, various speculations has surround this.
According to Mundo Deportivo, Barcelona still refuse to pay compensation fees to Al Sadd. This then led Xavi to step in and pay himself to speed up the deal.
However, the news is still confusing. Sport later reported that the compensation costs were half borne by Xavi and the other half by Barcelona.
This indicates Xavi’s strong desire to move to Barcelona. But the 41-year-old man was able to get his money back by attending a promotional event in Qatar.
The steps taken by Xavi were also carried out by Koeman before. He paid a compensation fee to the Dutch Football Federation when he accepted Barcelona’s proposal in the summer of 2020.