Xavi in line for Barcelona job with Koeman relieved of duty

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Following another disappointing result on Wednesday, Barcelona have parted ways with Ronald Koeman as the head coach, the Catalan club have confirmed, and former midfielder Xavi has reportedly been offered the job.

Things have been going from bad to worse for Barcelona for a while now. Lionel Messi, the club’s iconic forward who wanted to leave last year, joined Paris Saint-Germain as a free agent due to Barcelona’s financial problems, and the players who arrived to the Camp Nou this summer with a view of playing alongside the Argentinian superstar have been left disappointed, along with everyone else connected to the club.

Further more, Barcelona are nowhere near where they want to be, either in La Liga where they sit ninth at the moment, or in the Champions League where they are third in Group E after three rounds.

Real Madrid triumphed over Barcelona in the El Clasico on Sunday, and the home defeat to their arch-rivals was followed by a surprise loss to Rayo Vallecano on Wednesday, which seems to have caused the club to finally give Koeman his marching orders. According to Goal.com, the position has now been offered to Xavi Hernandez.

Xavi is currently with Al Sadd, but he apparently has a buyout clause in his contract and Barcelona are ready to pay what it takes to acquire his services. For his part, the 41-year-old is willing to return to the place where he spent the vast majority of his playing career.

Having been promoted to the first team in 1998, Xavi was a Barcelona player for 17 years and with 767 appearances in the Blaugrana shirt, he was one of the central figures of the huge success achieved in that time.