The romance between Xavi Hernandez and Barcelona is only a matter of months after Xavi officially announced that he would leave Barca at the end of this season. He announced this decision after the painful defeat against Villarreal at the Lluís Companys Olympic Stadium, Sunday (28/1).
This decision surprised many people because in his first season, Xavi won two titles (La Liga and Spanish Super Cup). Xavi also always gets full support from the president, Joan Laporta. This support was even conveyed explicitly in November 2023. In fact, at that time the team was in declining performance after the defeat in El Clasico.
“I want to make it clear, as (Barca sporting director) Deco and the directors of my board have said, that we are completely on the coach’s side and we are proud to have Xavi as coach on grounds of professionalism and humanity.” said Laporta via ESPN (18/11/23).
Apart from Laporta, the players were also surprised by Xavi’s decision to leave the club in June. Several players also expressed support for Xavi and hoped that the coach would change his mind.
Unfortunately, Xavi remained firm and firmly stated that this decision was final. He also explained that this decision had been carefully thought out since the defeat to Girona at home. The peak was the defeat in the Spanish Super Cup Final to Real Madrid. Xavi had actually already informed the people closest to him about this decision, such as his family and his assistant and brother, Oscar Hernandez.
“I have decided that I will not continue competing after June 30. This is a sensible decision for the good of the club. I took this decision a few days ago. But it’s time to announce it to the public,” said Xavi via The Athletic.
One of the reasons Xavi headed for the Camp Nou exit was none other than because he felt he had run out of energy, he said that all the demands from various sides made him mentally tired. Apart from that, the 44 year old coach also feels that all his struggles and achievements to date have never been appreciated.
“It’s cruel work and it wears you out. In Barcelona, you always feel as if you are worthless. “From a mental health perspective, it’s difficult,” he said via The Athletic.
Even though Xavi has devoted half his life to Barcelona (17 years as a player), the positive feelings that always accompanied him and the high enthusiasm and optimism he exuded while still playing, were not enough to keep him coaching Barca any longer. He felt he had lost all his energy and passion in training the Blaugrana.
“I am a positive person, but my battery (energy) was constantly running out and at some point, I realized that there was no point in staying.” he continued.
Xavi also said that this decision was purely his will. He never complained about problems related to money. He just followed his heart and didn’t want to be a burden to the club he loved.
“Xavi told me that he would leave at the end of the season. He wanted to finish the season and I accepted that decision because it was Xavi who proposed it to me. And he is a Barca legend. He is an honest man; he acts with dignity; and he is a person who loves Barca.” said Laporta via the club’s official release (28/01).
Meanwhile, former Barca coach Pep Guardiola understands what his former team experienced in Spain. He also understands the decision he made because the pressure on Barca was much heavier and could not be compared with other teams.
“We can’t compare the pressure in England with the pressure in Spain. In my experience, it’s a thousand times more difficult there. There are six press conferences a week, and many more games. The pressure you feel in Barcelona is not comparable to anywhere else .” said Pep via Marca.
During his two years in charge of Barca, Xavi has fostered a high sense of optimism within the club since his arrival in November 2021. He won two titles in his first full season as Barca coach. Unfortunately, Xavi is also the person most responsible for the Blaugrana’s failure in Europe (UCL and UEL) in the 2022/23 season. At that time, Barca, who only finished in 3rd place in the UCL group phase, dropped to UEL, and were eliminated in the play-off round against Manchester United.
Xavi’s decision to leave Barcelona at the end of next season shows the irony of his journey. Even though at the start, Xavi was full of optimism and gained the trust of many parties that he would restore Barcelona to glory, but the results did not meet expectations. This reflects that there are certain factors or challenges that made him find it difficult to achieve his vision and goals with Barcelona. Xavi’s departure could also be considered a surprise, given the high expectations placed on him when he first took on the role of head coach.
“From a sporting perspective, it is true that this season things did not go according to our plan. We came from winning La Liga and the Spanish Supercopa, with a better squad–we had better expectations but those expectations were not met,” Laporta said via The Athletic.
Xavi’s departure at the end of next season will add to the list of several legends who failed as coaches of the club that made their name. Similar cases occurred with Frank Lampard at Chelsea, Andrea Pirlo at Juventus, and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer at Manchester United. This emphasizes that achievements as a star player and becoming a team legend do not guarantee success in his role as a coach.
This phenomenon is interesting and gives rise to the implicit meaning of the differences in the success factors of a player and a coach. Achievement as a player tends to involve individual skill, understanding of the game and high dedication. Meanwhile, success as a coach requires the ability to read the game, manage a team, and adapt to the changing dynamics in the world of football. These factors create a significant difference between success as a player and success as a coach, with different challenges and dynamics in both roles.
Xavi’s departure will be felt deeply. The reason is, even though Barca have a big name, they still have financial problems so it will be difficult to find and attract experienced coaches and special CVs. However, everything must be tried, because coaching a team with a long history and many achievements will be a matter of pride for some coaches.
Regarding Xavi’s replacement, there is no specific name that Barca management is targeting. Reporting from ESPN, Laporta stated that he is a fan of coaches from Germany. So it would be easy to narrow down several names because he had targeted well-known names such as Hansi Flick, Julian Nagelsmann, and even Jurgen Klopp to replace Ronald Koeman before Xavi was finally chosen.
Hansi Flick is the most suitable choice for the Blaugrana because he is currently unemployed. Despite reaping failures with the German national team, Flick is still known as a successful coach because he made an impressive record while coaching Bayern Munich. Together with FC Hollywood, Flick presented ‘sixtuple’ for Bayern in the 2019/20 season.
Apart from Flick, Laporta also likes Nagelsmann, a young coach from Germany whose talent has been recognized in Europe. Nagelsmann’s name emerged when he brought RB Leipzig through the knockout phase of the Champions League in the 2019/20 season as group winners. Unfortunately, Nagelsmann then failed when he tried to climb to a higher level by coaching giants Bayern.
Dressing room tension with Bayern’s senior players proves that the 36-year-old coach is not yet authoritative enough to handle a big team. Moreover, currently the Blaugrana has been in a complicated situation in recent years due to financial problems. However, Nagelsmann could also be an interesting name because apart from being liked by Laporta, he is also currently unemployed and as a young coach is still eager to prove himself.
Then there is the name Roberto De Zerbi, whose name has made a name for himself after coaching Brighton and Hove Albion. The Italian coach even received direct praise from his teacher, Pep Guardiola. Pep said that De Zerbi’s Brighton is the team with the best attack building process in the 2022/23 Premier League season.
De Zerbi might be able to take Xavi’s job if he sees it as an opportunity to ‘move up’. Coaching a team like Barca will help him rise to a higher level than before (Sassuolo, Shakhtar Donetsk and Brighton). On the other hand, this will be a gamble for Barca management, because De Zerbi has no experience managing a team full of star players with high egos.
Apart from the three main names, there are other names that are being targeted, such as Rafael Marquez who is the coach of the Barcelona B team, Thiago Motta, a former Barcelona player who is currently pursuing a career in Italy with Bologna, and Michel–Miguel Angel Sanchez–who brought Girona to become Real Madrid’s main competitor in the competition. chasing the La Liga title this season. At least finding a replacement for Xavi will be a strategic task for Laporta. Because in fact, after the death of Pep and Luis Enrique, no coach lasted more than two years at the helm of the Blaugrana.
ASL
