BARCELONA (ESPA) — Barcelona is looking for other coaches to replace Ronald Koeman who was fired, said the club president Friday.
Joan Laporta was confronted with a flurry of questions about the speculation linking Xavi and the job. He praised the former midfielder, but did not reveal details about the job search.
“Xavi’s name is everywhere, but Barca has other options,” Laporta stated, without naming names.
“I have not changed my opinion about Xavi. He will one day be the coach of Barcelona. I would like that to happen while I am still in charge. Laporta stated that he doesn’t know when. “It is very true that we have excellent scouting reports on him. All of the information and news that we have about Xavi are very good, even though he isn’t been coaching for a while.”
Xavi, 41, is currently the coach of Qatari club Al-Sadd. He joined Al-Sadd in 2015 after winning 25 titles in 17 seasons. He was a player for Al-Sadd before becoming the team’s coach.
After his predecessor’s departure amid financial difficulties and poor results, Laporta began his second term as president of Barcelona midway through the last season.
Laporta stated that he speaks often with Xavi, who was a Barcelona player during Laporta’s first term as president, and they enjoy chatting about the team.
After a 1-0 defeat at Rayo Vallecano, Koeman was fired on Wednesday. This result left Barcelona in ninth position in the Spanish league. This was after painful defeats to Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid, Benfica, and Bayern Munich this year.
Barcelona appointed Sergi Barjuan, the reserve team coach, to serve as caretaker coach. Laporta stated that Barjuan would be in charge of Saturday’s match against Alaves as well as the Champions League match at Dynamo Kyiv next week.
Laporta thanked Koeman (a former Barcelona defender) for taking over the team last season, when it was having difficulty competing with Europe’s elite.
Laporta stated that Koeman was a man from this club and will be a part of its collective memory forever. He also won the Copa del Rey title, but he quit because of poor results. It was impossible to sustain the situation.
