Al Sadd media pushes Xavi to Barcelona rumours: “There is no official offer from any party”

As rumours surrounding Xavi’s appointment as the next manager of Barcelona continue to mount, Al Sadd have come out and issued a defiant statement that the 41-year-old is still bound by a two-year contract with the Qatari outfit.

Following the sacking of Ronald Koeman on Wednesday earlier this week, Xavi was named as the favourite to succeed the Dutchman at Camp Nou. In fact, the rumour mill in Spain went into overdrive, claiming that a deal between the Catalans and their former midfielder was already in place.

And while that may or may not be the case, Al Sadd have insisted that the ex-Spain international remains focused on his job with the team and is still left with two years on his current deal with the club.

Following the statement issued by the Qatari giants, their media officer, Ahmed Al-Ansari, has also taken to Twitter to shed light on the matters. He insists that there has been no official offer made by Barca for the signing of Xavi as of yet. In addition, he seems to have taken a dig at the Blaugrana over their pursuit of the 41-year-old.

“There is no official offer from any party at the club table. Any club that has something professional is supposed to negotiate with the other party if it wants a player or coach who has a contract,” Al-Ansari wrote on Twitter.

Meanwhile, Barcelona president Joan Laporta indicated on Friday that there had been contact made with Xavi while not giving much away. However, with Al Sadd not going down without a fight, it seems like the Catalans still have some work left to do in order to bring the 41-year-old back to Camp Nou.

In the meantime, Sergi Barjuan has been named as the interim manager, and the Barca B head coach will take charge of the senior team against Deportivo Alaves later tonight. He is likely to stay at the helm for the UEFA Champions League clash against Dynamo Kyiv next week as well.