Xavi Blocks FC Barcelona Signing Big Chelsea Star Due To ‘Unstoppable Decline’: Reports

FC Barcelona head coach Xavi Hernandez has blocked his club’s attempt to sign a big star from Chelsea, according to El Nacional.

The Blaugrana are on their way to winning a first La Liga title in four years, but their shortcomings in Europe and in the final stretch of the season have highlighted a need to make reinforcements for 2023/2024.

This is easier said than done given the club’s financial difficulties and the need to shave €200 million ($218 million) from the wage bill as publicly warned by La Liga president Javier Tebas.

Barca think they can do this through player sales and salary reductions, and have drawn up a viability plan to show Tebas and the Spanish top flight that the numbers can work.

The plan has mostly been tailored to get the green light for the return of Lionel Messi after his contract at Paris Saint Germain expires on June 30. Yet Gerard Romero reported that it details four players coming in while two significant names from the current squad are sold.

One of these new signings could have potentially been Joao Felix, of whom president Joan Laporta has admitted he has a soft spot. “I like him a lot, I love him,” Laporta once said of the Portuguese forward.

As Felix is represented by Jorge Mendes, who boasts a strong relationship with Laporta, landing the 23-year-old could have been pretty straightforward after meeting the asking price of his parent club Atletico Madrid.

According to El Nacional, however, Xavi has stepped in to block any pursuit of the Chelsea loanee who he believes is on an “unstoppable decline” after rocky spells in the Spanish and English capitals.

With Felix costing more than €100 million ($108 million), Xavi would rather see the money saved and spent bolstering other positions.

Furthermore, this sum is roughly what it would take to buy Felix’s compatriot Bernardo Silva from Manchester City, with the midfielder Xavi’s last remaining transfer target in the summer of 2022.

After Barca signed Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha and Jules Kounde, however, there was no money leftover from the pulling of Laporta’s famous ‘economic levers’ with Frenkie de Jong also refusing to join City’s crosstown rivals Manchester United.