The history of the canarinha she was not well known, although Tite had confirmed that they had spoken to Xavi. It goes back to before the summer. The Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) had yet to play in the Copa America, but was already beginning to plan for the future of the national team in the long run. They thought of Xavi as a replacement for Tite, the current Brazilian coach. The proposal was to turn Xavi into Tite’s right-hand man from the Copa America to the World Cup in Qatar. His role would be that of second coach, but not so much to advise the coach as to begin to become familiar with the players and the work routines of the selection. In this way, at the beginning of 2023, once the tournament was over, Xavi would become the first coach of Brazil.
My only hope was to come to Barça ”
Xavi Hernandez
“My only hope was to come to Barça”, he replied when justifying his refusal to the CBF, which offered him a contract until the 2026 World Cup. Xavi had his neck down that sooner or later he would return to Barcelona and he knew that, with Laporta at the box office, and despite the president’s initial refusal, the pieces began to move to end up occupying a place on the Camp Nou bench.
Pumpkins to Bartomeu
A place he did not want to occupy before, despite Bartomeu’s insistence that he return to Barça, already at the beginning of 2020. These were moments of low hours for the management, who lived in a latent conflict with the dressing room, especially with some weights heavy. “I felt it wasn’t the time, that it was too early,” Xavi replied, avoiding giving more details. In fact, he received a Barça representation in Doha made up of Òscar Grau and Éric Abidal, who were then CEO and technical secretary of the club, respectively. Xavi declined the offer, as well as in the summer, when the board went to look for him, again, after verifying that the signing of Quique Setién as Valverde’s emergency relief had been a resounding failure. “Then it wasn’t the time either. And besides, there was an election in the middle,” the coach justified. Elections in which the candidate Víctor Font had Xavi as the standard of his project, although the Terrassa native chose not to intervene directly during the campaign and ended up subtracting votes from Font.
But why is his signing so late? Laporta could have hired the coach in the summer, when he was looking for a replacement for Ronald Koeman. The official version is that the president “wanted to give a margin of confidence” to the Dutchman. Now, club sources say that behind that decision were hidden the financial problems to fire Koeman – more than 10 million in compensation – and also that he did not see clearly that Xavi was ready to take over. charge. Laporta himself went so far as to say that he saw it as “green.” The process accelerated in September and culminated in November, when the sporting situation became “unsustainable.” “I wish things had been easier, but he knows he has all our confidence. And if things go wrong, he will have our support. And if things go wrong, he will have more,” he said. . Two years later, the era of Xavi Hernández at the Camp Nou finally begins.
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