‘Everyone Wants To Play For FC Barcelona’, Despite Financial Problems

FC Barcelona head coach Xavi Hernandez was tight-lipped when asked to shed light on his alleged Munich meeting with Borussia Dortmund superstar striker Erling Haaland earlier this week, when fielding questions from the press ahead of the Blaugrana’s Sunday meeting with Elche in La Liga.

“I can’t disclose details, but I can only say that we are working for the present the future of the club,” Xavi answered when probed on the subject. “I can’t say any more, when I can we will be the first to say it. For example, yesterday we announced Pablo Torre’s arrival.”

“But, in this situation [regarding Haaland], I have nothing to say and nothing to announce, only that we are working for the good of the club, for the future and the present.”

“We are a team, with the president in charge, Mateu [Alemany], Jordi [Cruyff],” Xavi added later when pushed on his role player recruitment. “They trust me a lot, I can’t say anything else.

“I don’t decide things alone, no one decides unilaterally,” Xavi insisted. “It is a group and I am all about the team, about asking questions, everyone having an opinion and then deciding. My role is decisive, but it is not me alone. It is about presenting the project to a player, the style of play and not tricking him, the city as well.

“The most important thing is that I have not seen a single player who has said ‘no’ to Barcelona,” Xavi concluded, in the most important part of his speech. “Of course there are different circumstances, but it makes all the players feel excited at the idea of joining.”

Xavi’s point is supported by 18-year-old prodigy Torre – who Xavi described as a “natural talent” who can “play in midfield, wide” and is “two-footed” while having “a great final ball” – over Real Madrid.

Though Barca are mired in over $1.5bn’s worth of debt, the consolidation of Spanish talent in the first team squad which boasts internationals such as Gavi, Pedri, Eric Garcia, Sergio Busquets and Ferran Torres to name but a few makes Xavi’s side the perfect place to be seen by national team coach Luis Enrique.

Before Barca could offer players the chance to play alongside Lionel Messi, which is now gone, but the appeal and pull of the Camp Nou is still a decisive factor in negotiations with stars such as Haaland as much as it was in Xavi’s day.

Yet the club must still guarantee Champions League football too, something it is well on the path to doing next term given its possible rise to third place above Real Betis with a win on the road on Sunday.