BARCELONA, Spain — Barcelona is considering other possible coaches besides former player Xavi Hernandez to take over for the fired Ronald Koeman, the club’s president said Friday.
Joan Laporta faced a barrage of questions about the widespread speculation linking Xavi to the position. Each time, he lauded the former midfielder while not revealing details of the job hunt.
“The name of Xavi is all over the news but Barca has other options,” Laporta said, without naming names.
“I have never changed what I say about Xavi. One day he will become the coach of Barcelona. What I don’t know is when,” Laporta said. “It is true that the scouting reports we have on him are very good. All the inputs and news we have on Xavi are good, even though he has not been coaching a long time.”
The 41-year-old Xavi is currently coaching Qatari club Al-Sadd, a team he joined after leaving Barcelona in 2015 following 25 titles in 17 seasons. He played for Al-Sadd until becoming the team’s coach in 2019.
Koeman was let go on Wednesday following a 1-0 loss at Rayo Vallecano that left Barcelona in ninth place in the Spanish league.
Barcelona promoted reserve team coach Sergi Barjuan the next day to act as caretaker coach. Laporta said Barjuan will be in charge for Saturday’s home game against Alaves and possibly next week’s Champions League match at Dynamo Kyiv.
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