Xavi Hernández

[jairzinho]

I feel like Pep should have been the priority. Too bad he signed a new contract.

 

[Richard.H]

This guy better be the second coming of Jesus or we are screwed for a long time. To rebuild this team will take some time.

I either see Xavi becoming the next Pep or the next Arteta. No in-between given his very stubborn personality.

 

[Richard.H]

It should be Laporta and Alemany's job to clear out the squad.

Laporta and Txiki started a revolution in 2003, and then in 2008.

Time for another one, although this one will be much tougher.

I think whoever said in the messi thread that we will lose a lot of our commercial value by getting rid of all seniors (including Messi and Alba) is right. Think about it, outside of Europe how do people know Barca? From Messi mostly. Maybe laporta does want to get rid of all of them, but his financial folks and marketing folks are saying it's a terrible idea given the club's money situation. Football business now is also a lot more different than back then. Money talks even more.

 

[DonAK]

I think whoever said in the messi thread that we will lose a lot of our commercial value by getting rid of all seniors (including Messi and Alba) is right. Think about it, outside of Europe how do people know Barca? From Messi mostly. Maybe laporta does want to get rid of all of them, but his financial folks and marketing folks are saying it's a terrible idea given the club's money situation. Football business now is also a lot more different than back then. Money talks even more.

I said it, or was one of them at least.

I think only Messi matters in this context. Alba is pretty much a nobody to everyone outside of Europe.

If Messi is willing to stay and make a financial commitment by making that 50% salary cut as reported, and we can improve the team this summer then that's a good start.

 

[FinBarcelonafan]

I either see Xavi becoming the next Pep or the next Arteta. No in-between given his very stubborn personality.

Too early to say Arteta fails. Arsenal is a big mess anyway.

 

[khaled_a_d]

I said it, or was one of them at least.

I think only Messi matters in this context. Alba is pretty much a nobody to everyone outside of Europe.

If Messi is willing to stay and make a financial commitment by making that 50% salary cut as reported, and we can improve the team this summer then that's a good start.

Pique,Busquets, Coutinho, Griezmann are all recognisable names across the globe, to one extent or another.
Doesn't mean they should be all untouchables, but some players with commercial value will remain.

 

[Porque]

If he could play like he played for the B team on Sunday in every game, then Konrad could be a pretty big marketing deal. Not in the Messi stratosphere sporting wise obviously, but "he american and he got da look".

 

[Messi983]

I feel like Pep should have been the priority. Too bad he signed a new contract.

He'd never come back. Not in this current situation at least.

 

[DonAK]

Even though it would be a risk/gamble/whatever you want to call it, it would be exciting to see him become our next manager this summer or the next one.

We've some promising midfielders coming through and Xavi could be great at coaching them. He was also more or less our last proper leader in the team. We've yet to fill that gap since Xavi and Mascherano left.

There's questions about whether he'll be rigid or not, whether he's ready and if he'll be another Pirlo or a Zidane, but would be fascinating nonetheless. The truth is that we don't know.

I would be shocked if Xavi is the possession for the sake of pointless possession guy. That's not who he was a player and not how we were with Pep.

Need to clear out the likes of Busquets, Pique, Alba, Roberto first though.

 

[Bobo32]

Even though it would be a risk/gamble/whatever you want to call it, it would be exciting to see him become our next manager this summer or the next one.

We've some promising midfielders coming through and Xavi could be great at coaching them. He was also more or less our last proper leader in the team. We've yet to fill that gap since Xavi and Mascherano left.

There's questions about whether he'll be rigid or not, whether he's ready and if he'll be another Pirlo or a Zidane, but would be fascinating nonetheless.

Need to clear out the likes of Busquets, Pique, Alba, Roberto first though.

If he is a bad leader, yes.
I think he can lead these players, even though they used to play together.

It should all depend on him though, if he wants to wait another year or couple of years for whatever reason, he should do it. Messi is the biggest factor in the squad I think.
I think this summer would be a brilliant and optimal time for Xavi to take over.

 

[Fati_Future_BallonDor]

Even though it would be a risk/gamble/whatever you want to call it, it would be exciting to see him become our next manager this summer or the next one.

We've some promising midfielders coming through and Xavi could be great at coaching them. He was also more or less our last proper leader in the team. We've yet to fill that gap since Xavi and Mascherano left.

There's questions about whether he'll be rigid or not, whether he's ready and if he'll be another Pirlo or a Zidane, but would be fascinating nonetheless. The truth is that we don't know.

I would be shocked if Xavi is the possession for the sake of pointless possession guy. That's not who he was a player and not how we were with Pep.

Need to clear out the likes of Busquets, Pique, Alba, Roberto first though.

Agree, would love to see Xavi but with having the amigos at barca could be contraproductive for the rebuild of Xavi.

 

[DonAK]

If he is a bad leader, yes.
I think he can lead these players, even though they used to play together.

It should all depend on him though, if he wants to wait another year or couple of years for whatever reason, he should do it. Messi is the biggest factor in the squad I think.
I think this summer would be a brilliant and optimal time for Xavi to take over.

Stop it man

I saw your other comment about this possibly being the best squad in the World. You cannot seriously believe something like that.

We need to move on from some of these players.

 

[Fati_Future_BallonDor]

Stop it man

I saw your other comment about this possibly being the best squad in the World. You cannot seriously believe something like that.

We need to move on from some of these players.

Not only some, at the moment it looks like we need to change nearly whole team + coach. Will be a big task for Xavi.

 

[Bobo32]

Stop it man

I saw your other comment about this possibly being the best squad in the World. You cannot seriously believe something like that.

We need to move on from some of these players.

List the squads that are better, then?
It is very unbalanced and more importantly very poorly used, but even so it's tough to say it's not at least top 10, just based on results the last years?

Yes Barcelona need to move on from some of the older players in a few years, and should get rid of a lot of the players that are not yet old. It's key to have competent people make these decisions, or Barcelona will have a squad that is barely top 10 in Spain in just a couple of years, with little possibility to get back to the top.

 

[DonAK]

List the squads that are better, then?
It is very unbalanced and more importantly very poorly used, but even so it's tough to say it's not at least top 10, just based on results the last years?

Yes Barcelona need to move on from some of the older players in a few years, and should get rid of a lot of the players that are not yet old. It's key to have competent people make these decisions, or Barcelona will have a squad that is barely top 10 in Spain in just a couple of years, with little possibility to get back to the top.

Bayern Munich and Manchester City for example?