I turned down Barcelona’s offer to manage them, confirms Xavi
Getty
Barcelona legend and Al Sadd manager Xavi Hernandez has admitted that he did get an offer from his former side and that he subsequently turned it down. The La Liga giants parted ways with Ernesto Valverde and replaced the former Athletic Bilbao coach with Quique Seiten earlier this week.
The Barcelona great was on a shortlist created by the club to replace Ernesto Valverde with the list also including Mauricio Pochettino, Thierry Henry and Massimilano Allegri amongst others. However, in the end, the Catalan side opted to sign former Real Betis boss Quique Seiten as their next manager with the 61-year-old a self-confessed fan of playing football the Barcelona way.
However, their first approach in the race to replace Valverde was to former Barcelona superstar Xavi Hernandez, with the Spaniard now managing Al Sadd. And the Al-Sadd coach confirmed that he was made a formal offer by the club via Sporting Director Eric Abidal and CEO Oscar Grau but turned down the offer and opted to stay in Qatar. Xavi also added that the drama caused a few problems for him and Al-Sadd but now everything is fine.
“Yes, I received an offer from Barcelona in the presence of Eric Abidal and Oscar Grau, but I didn't accept it. It's too soon to coach Barcelona, but it will continue to be my dream to be Barcelona coach in the future. I told my family first (after he turned it down) and then the Al-Sadd players because they were following the topic.  I wasn't in my best position during the three days, but I'm now totally focused on Al -Sadd,” he said reported Goal.
