Al Sadd Dismisses Xavi To Barca Links

Qatari club Al Sadd has reacted to reports linking their coach Xavi Hernandez with a move to football giants FC Barcelona. The Spanish club sacked Ronald Koeman on Wednesday after a 1-0 loss to Rayo Vallecano saw them positioned 9^th on the league table, six points behind rivals Real Madrid, and nine points adrift of league leaders Real Sociedad.

In May, Xavi who spent 17 trophy-laden years at Barca extended his contract with the Asian football giants for two more years, but has been linked with the Barca job as President Joan Laporta (Barcelona) has revealed that talks are ongoing with the former Spanish national team midfielder though an agreement has not been reached.

Xavi who is expected to take over from interim Barca coach Sergi Barguan has refused to say anything regarding links to Barcelona, instead he is “currently focused on my work with Al Sadd and I cannot talk about anything else.’’

Al Sadd in a tweet said: “In response to what’s circulating recently, the #AlSadd management reaffirms that Xavi has a two-year contract with the club and is fully focused on the team’s upcoming matches, to maintain our lead at the top of the league and to defend the title.’’

Ahmed Al Ansari, Al Sadd’s media officer also took to Twitter to say there “is no official offer on the table from any party. Any club that has a bit of professionalism is supposed to negotiate with the other side if it wants a player or coach who is under contract.”

Barcelona play Alaves on Saturday in what would be Barjuan’s first game in charge until the appointment of a new manager is made official.

Sources

Barca Blaugranes

Sky Sports

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