Xavi Hernandez in Talks to Take Over as Barcelona Coach

Barcelona's current head coach Ernesto Valverde is reportedly under pressure after the club's defeat to rivals Atletico Madrid in the Spanish Cup semi-finals.

Xavi Hernandez is in talks with Barcelona to return to his former as their head coach, his current club Qatar’s Al-Sadd’s sporting director confirmed on Saturday.

The negotiations are currently underway.

“I will not deny that,” Muhammad Ghulam Al-Balushi BeIN. “There are negotiations about Xavi and everyone is talking about them… but I can say that Xavi so far is at Al-Sadd.”

Ghulam continued, “The final decision is in the hands of Al-Sadd’s management, in the hands of the manager, and the hands of Barcelona’s management.”

Barcelona’s current head coach Ernesto Valverde is reportedly under pressure after the club’s defeat to rivals Atletico Madrid in the Spanish Cup semi-finals.

Xavi has confirmed he met with Barcelona’s director of football Eric Abdidal during his recent trip to Qatar but refused to speak on his potential appointment. “I’m focussing on Al-Sadd. Yes Abidal is my friend, I met him many times,” Xavi said.

However, Xavi, who played 855 matches for Barcelona during a storied career, did admit returning to his old club as their coach will be a ‘dream’ job. “They were here to talk to me and we discussed many things. And they were here to check how is Ousmane Dembele. I cannot inform you too much, just that I met Abidal and he is my friend. I cannot hide that it’s my dream to coach Barcelona, I said it many times,” he said.

Xavi joined Al-Sadd as a player in 2015 before being named as their coach last year. “I respect Barcelona, I respect Valverde, and I respect my club and I’m doing my job here. When I started as a coach, I felt ready to coach Al-Sadd, to coach Barcelona, to coach other teams — but I don’t know the timing, I have a contract here, one more season. Let’s see what happens,” he said.