This is a warning to Barcelona fans. This is a message full of truth. No hot cloths. It’s time to lower the soufflé. It’s time to face reality. Culés, this is Xavi Hernández, coach of the Blaugrana first team. The best thing is that they become aware of and are fully aware of the change in the size of the club and are aware of the problems it faces. “I think that the Barcelona fan must understand that the situation is very difficult. The current Barça has nothing to do with the one from 25 years ago, when the coach arrived and said I love this one, this one and this one,” Xavi compared the ease of signing in other times.
The coach, who has decided that he will fulfill the last year of his contract, assured that he has internalized the current limited context. “I understand it. That doesn’t mean we don’t want to compete and fight for titles. We are going to try, but we need stability and time,” he asked for calm with the sports project.
It was not until the press conference for his 100th match in the League, tonight against the relegated Almería, that Xavi has burst the bubble of triumphalism and high expectations in which the club has lived during Laporta’s current mandate. Perhaps since his presentation with open doors at the Camp Nou or announcing the beginning of an era after the Super Cup in January 2023.
The blank season of this course forces us to rethink the strategy. The diagnosis is made. “With me, losing will have consequences,” Laporta said at the time. And so it will be acted. Xavi announced a major restructuring of the squad. “The objective is to change, to incorporate new people to improve, so as not to stay the same,” he said for the next season.
“At the level of results, the same thing happens as with the situation of the club. Last year we were solvent without playing what we wanted. We won the League on a field belonging to a historic rival like Espanyol. It’s a great memory. This year we have played better and we have competed worse. We have to play better but above all compete better,” he put as duties for the immediate future.
The problem now is how to act and intervene since there is not much room. It will not be easy nor will the price be low. “I’ll tell Deco what I need, not here,” he noted about the list of reinforcements. But the club’s cash flow and then LaLiga’s financial fair play to register will condition the planning. “We have to see the film of the economic situation and fair play. The president is always positive and so is Deco, but the economic situation will mark us. We know”. So Xavi believes that until the transfer market is over, there is no point in talking about objectives or anticipating what one can aspire to.
That stark x-ray contrasts with the arrival in the winter market of Vitor Roque for 30 million plus 31 in variables. The coach gave his version of that signing. “The intention was not for Vitor to come in January. The idea is that he would become a player there in Brazil. But a possibility opened up when Gavi and Balde were injured and we decided that he should get to know the club and compete. He is a player who is developing. I don’t understand the debate: he plays less because there are players who are ahead of him. He has spent his entire life and more with young players,” he reasoned about the few minutes of the 19-year-old striker.
Xavi only spoke about the future of Araújo, whom he wants on his team. “I talk to Ronald very often. He knows perfectly what I think and what I wanted for his future. For my part, it is very clear.” Although the Uruguayan still has discomfort and he could miss the second consecutive game. After Girona’s defeat against Villarreal, Barça depends on itself to be second in the League, something they will achieve by beating Almería and Rayo on Sunday. “Being second means a lot, for prestige and for economic reasons,” he stated. It is the new reality. The bubble has been burst.
