Xavi Hernández, the candidate to replace Ronald Koeman as coach of FC Barcelona

The sudden dismissal of Ronald Koeman on the night from Wednesday to Thursday, after falling against Rayo Vallecano in the League, opens the search for his replacement at FC Barcelona, ​​for which it seems to raise the name of the legend Xavi Hernández in full.

“Xavi for Koeman”, headlines this Thursday in Primera the Catalan newspaper Sports world, while your competitor SportAfter speaking of a Koeman “struck down”, he points out that Xavi Hernández “is emerging as the new tenant of the Barça bench.”

The former Barça midfielder has been showing his desire to coach the Barça club for some time and, according to the Spanish media, the negotiations are already underway.

“Xavi, with the agreement with Barça very advanced, is now negotiating with Al Saad to be in Kiev”In the Champions League game against Dinamo on Tuesday, states the online edition of Mundo Deportivo.

Xavi, who in May renewed for two years with Al Saad, did not include, according to the press, any release clause in case of being called by Barça, but the Qatari club would have assured him that he would not put excessive problems for his departure to FC Barcelona.

According to Sport, “Xavi’s arrival is expected to be made official in the next few hours”To replace Koeman, whose gap will be filled temporarily by the subsidiary’s coach, Sergi Barjuan.

Barjuan will be in command, until “the club closes the hiring of a new coach,” said Barça this Thursday, which last Sunday had given its support to Koeman, after being harassed by fans leaving the Camp Nou after losing 2 -1 with Real Madrid in the classic league.

‘Inevitable removal’

However, the bad results have ended up leading to the dismissal of the former Barça coach, despite the cost of his dismissal of between 12 and 14 million euros (between 14 and 16 million dollars) in a club that is going through tough financial times.

The 1-0 defeat in Vallecas on Wednesday in the 11th round of the League was the finishing touch to a start to the season marked by an irregular game and a series of bad results.

Koeman’s impeachment was inevitable. Because the decline of the team was unbearable “, said this Thursday in a column the director of Sport, Lluís Mascaró.

Barça is in 9th league position, after getting 15 points out of 30 possible and at the same distance from the head as from the descent.

The team still has not won away this season, to which is added their delicate position in the Champions League after suffering a 3-0 thrashing against Bayern Munich and Benfica, and only having beaten Dinamo Kiev 1-0.

Arrived in August 2020 to set the course for FC Barcelona shaken by its painful 8-2 defeat against Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarter-finals, the Dutchman has not been able to meet their expectations.

The hero of the Wembley final against Sampdoria, with a goal that gave Barça the first European Cup in 1992, would have to deal in his first season with Messi’s departure threat and the transfer of Luis Suárez to Atlético de Madrid.

A single trophy

In a club beset by economic and institutional tensions, Koeman, with a team in full transition, manages to finish the season third in the championship.

In the Champions League they fell in the second round against PSG, but He was able to console himself in Spain with the Copa del Rey, the only title achieved by the Dutchman in almost a year and a half at the helm of Barça.

His continuity in office seemed to be on the wire since the beginning of this season, being a technician chosen by the previous board to the one headed by Joan Laporta, who, however, ended up keeping him in office.

The season did not start better than the previous one for Koeman with the departure of Messi from the team and an irregular start to the campaign whose prolongation in time, together with the lack of brightness of his game, which have ended up sentencing the Dutchman. (D)