It’s official! Xavi to take helm at Barca

Al Sadd have officially announced the departure of Xavi as their manager and his moving to Barcelona.

“Xavi informed us a few days ago of his desire to go to Barcelona at this particular time, because of the critical stage his hometown club is going through, and we understand this and decided not to stand in his way. Al Sadd administration has agreed on Xavi’s move to Barcelona after the payment of the release clause stipulated in the contract. We’ve agreed on cooperation with Barcelona in the future. Xavi is an important part of Al-Sadd’s history and we wish him success,” the Al Sadd management noted on Twitter.  

Barca will pay the Qatari club 1 million euros to terminate Xavi's contract with Al Sadd prematurely.

Barcelona will announce the appointment of the club and Spanish national football squad’s legendary player as their new manager on Friday.

Xavi will return to Barcelona over the weekend, and his official presentation as Barca's head coach will be held next Monday or Tuesday.

And his debut as Barca manager will take place on November 20, in their home game against Espanyol in the 14th round of the Spanish La Liga.

On October 28, Barca had fired Dutchman Ronald Koeman as their head coach, and the current acting manager of the Catalan football giants is Sergi Barjuan, who was coaching the second team of the club this year.

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