FC Barcelona boss Xavi Hernandez has shockingly announced he will leave the club at the end of the season amid a turbulent 2023/24 campaign. However, his decision to jump ship is not as admirable as many have perceived it to be, KickOff's Lukhanyo Mtuta writes.
Barca lost further grip on their LALIGA title defence as they suffered an embarrassing 5-3 defeat at home to Villarreal on Saturday, leaving them 11 points adrift of log leaders Girona. The evening ended on an even more sour note as Xavi revealed in a post-match press conference that he will step down from his role in June. "I don't want to be a problem. I want to be a solution for Barça as I was two years ago," he said, according to Barca's official website.
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There's certainly a number of ways to assess this decision, bearing in mind the state of financial turmoil the club finds itself in recent seasons. While he managed to win the LALIGA title and the Spanish Super Cup last year, things began to unravel for Xavi this term as a poor run of form towards the back-end of 2023 began drawing a lot of criticism towards the coach. A series of injuries to important players such as Marc-Andre ter Stegen and Gavi also hampered the team's fortunes, and it quickly became clear the Blaugrana would also not be making any major reinforcements in the January transfer window due to a lack of funds.
January has proved quite a fateful month for the 44-year-old tactician, with Barca having lost the Spanish Super Cup to rivals Real Madrid and also being dumped out of the Copa del Rey last week after losing 4-2 to Athletic Club. Furthermore, they have conceded eight league goals in just three matches this month, painting a grim picture of their performances of late. All this has culminated in Xavi deciding to cut his loses with the team, but it's hard to believe he was doing it purely for the benefit of the club, as he has suggested.
In September 2023, Xavi signed a contract extension until June 2025 after he led the team to their first LALIGA crown since the 2018/19 season. Not many would have foreseen the club legend voluntarily going back on his decision and deciding to cut his contract short by a full year almost six months after signing the renewal.
With all of Barca's previous three managers having been sacked at the Camp Nou, Xavi might only be resigning to avoid the same embarrassing fate his predecessors Ernesto Valverde, Quique Setien and Ronald Koeman were condemned to. The 2010 FIFA World Cup winner with Spain is one of the greatest players in the club's history and a former captain during one of the team's most successful periods in recent history. It would have certainly been damaging to his reputation and relationship with the club if he was given his marching orders not even a year after he completed a domestic cup double.
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Xavi's decision to step down is not like that of Jurgen Klopp, who recently announced he will leave Liverpool at the end of the season, citing fatigue. In fact, it seems the former central midfielder was simply avoiding the sack and the aftermath that would follow. It took both Setien and Valverde two years to find another job after they were sacked by the Blaugrana, while Koeman left with a battered reputation in Catalonia after his dismissal from the helm. I believe Xavi simply wanted to go out in his own terms and protect his managerial career.
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