Barcelona spent months trying to persuade Xavi Hernandez to stay. In January, the former midfielder made the announcement that he would leave the Catalan club at the end of the season – only for Barca to enjoy a strong run of form. Not long after performing a U-turn and deciding he would stay on, Xavi was unceremoniously pushed out the exit door.
Hansi Flick is now expected to take over at the Montjuic in the coming days with the former Bayern Munich and Germany boss set to make a return to management. Flick is proven at the elite level, but is it realistic to expect him to achieve more than Xavi did during his period as Barcelona manager?
Xavi’s firing highlights how the expectations are too high at Barca. This is a club that nearly suffered financial meltdown only a few years ago and is still feeling the knock-on effects of that. Flick won’t have much money to spend in the transfer market this summer because Barcelona simply don’t have the wiggle room to splash cash on star players.
While Real Madrid will likely complete the signing of Kylian Mbappe this summer having already landed Brazilian prodigy Endrick, Barcelona will be restricted to targeting free agents and cut-price options. This has been the case for a number of seasons and yet Xavi managed to keep Barca competitive at the top of Spanish soccer.
Barcelona had the third-largest budget in La Liga this season, but finished second. Real Madrid had a spending cap of over €700m while Barca’s was at the €300m mark. Of course, this is a disparity of Barcelona’s own making, but was Xavi really expected to bridge the gap between those two numbers on the pitch?
Soccer clubs have short memories. It was only last season that Barcelona won the Spanish title, exceeding all pre-season predictions. This season might have seen the Catalans put up a feeble defence of their title, but they still finished with a points tally of 85 that would have put them in title contention in any other season.
“We can be proud of the work that we’ve done, it’s not been easy because of the situation the club is going through,” said Xavi after taking charge of his final Barcelona match against Sevilla on Sunday. “I have a clear conscience, in general, I am happy – we have done good work even though this year we did not achieve our objectives. Content, satisfied, grateful.”
Not only did Xavi achieve a first and second place finish in back-to-back seasons, he brought through a number of young players who will sustain Barcelona for years to come. Indeed, Barca’s youthful core of Pedri, Gavi, Lamine Yamal, Pau Cubarsi and Fermin Lopez owe a lot to the former midfielder who placed his trust in them when other managers might not have.
This isn’t to say Xavi was above criticism as Barca boss. This season, he deviated from the possession-orientated approach that worked so well for his team last season, instead asking his players to be more direct in the attack. This represented a fundamental break from Barcelona’s long-established reputation for possession soccer.
Defensively, Barcelona suffered a major drop-off this season. While they boasted the best defensive record in La Liga last term, the Catalans were extremely vulnerable at the back this season. This was the biggest reason why Barca were unable to stick with Real Madrid at the top of the La Liga table, particularly in the first half of the campaign.
Barca are a club in transition. The Catalans are taking measures – and pulling levers – to rebuild the commercial base of the club. They are also rebuilding the iconic Camp Nou which is currently a pile of rubble and is scheduled to reopen for the start of the 2025/26 season. The rebuilding efforts extend to the team on the pitch.
In many ways, though, Xavi was the perfect figure to carry Barcelona through this transition. He had the trust of the squad – most certainly the young members. He was also popular with the Barca support. The Catalans have rolled the dice by firing Xavi in favour of Flick. Gambling hasn’t exactly worked out well for Barcelona in recent years.
