Barcelona staff set to travel to Doha to finalise Xavi appointment

Barcelona will step up their efforts to bring club legend Xavi back to Camp Nou as the next first-team manager.

Since the sacking of Ronald Koeman last week, the 2010 FIFA World Cup winner has emerged as the favourite to replace the Dutchman. In fact, there have been claims in the media that the 41-year-old Xavi has already reached full agreement to take charge of the Catalan giants.

However, talks with his current employers, Al Sadd are proving to be tricky. The Qatari outfit issued a defiant statement last week, claiming that he still had two years left on his contract and that they had not received any official proposal from Barca for Xavi.

Following that, it was claimed that the club’s owners wanted Barcelona president Joan Laporta himself to fly down to Doha in order to negotiate over a deal for the former Spanish international.

And, it seems like Barca are now ready to respond to their demands by sending a team out to Qatar in order to finalise the switch, although Laporta will not be making the trip.

Indeed, as reported by TV3 (h/t Mundo Deportivo), the Blaugrana will be flying vice-president Rafa Yuste and director Mateu Alemany to Doha to get the deal over the line. The pair will set out for Qatar from Kyiv on Wednesday after Barcelona’s UEFA Champions League clash against Dynamo Kyiv, which will be played later tonight.

They will hope to convince Al Sadd’s owners to part ways with Xavi, while insisting that Laporta never flies to negotiate deals for players/managers. If things go according to plans, the 41-year-old manager will coach the Qatar Stars League outfit for the last time on Wednesday in a crucial top-of-the-table clash against Al-Duhail.

As per reports from last week, Barcelona plan to confirm the appointment of Xavi on Thursday and present him after the team plays Celta Vigo in La Liga at the weekend. If all goes well, the club icon would be ready to take charge of the Catalan derby against Espanyol after the international break on November 20.

For now, it looks like Rafa Yuste and Mateu Alemany are set to fly out to Doha to wrap up the agreement.