Barca News
At the beginning of March, Juan Laporta was very clear in his statements when he announced that he wanted to renew Xavi Hernandez’s contract. The team had just achieved an excellent result in the first leg of the Cup semi-final against Real Madrid and had extended the league points gap with the Whites. Everything was going well and the president made this announcement while there was still one year left until the end of the coach’s contract.
A few weeks ago, there was the first meeting between the Barcelona sports administration and the coach’s agents to officially inform them of the desire to renew Xavi’s contract for two more seasons. In this way, the coach will have a contract until the end of President Laporta’s term, which ends in 2026, but things will not be so simple.
When the two sides started talking about money, they realized that the differences were too great. Xavi demanded a significant increase in salary compared to what he is currently receiving. According to some sources, he is asking for more than twice what he is currently receiving. His requests surprised Barcelona, because the club’s financial situation is not the best.
However, what Xavi is asking for is not exaggerated and his requests have nothing to do with what other coaches such as Simeone, Guardiola and Klopp, who earn higher salaries, receive. The Liverpool coach, who is third on the list, earns more than 17 million euros annually. But Xavi does not ask for such an amount, though.
Xavi made a big bet on coming to Barcelona a year and a half ago. In Qatar, in order to sign for FC Barcelona, he paid half of his freedom when Al Sadd asked for 5 million euros to agree to his departure, and this amount was paid 50 percent between the club and Xavi. In addition, the salary he receives at the present time is completely far from the market price for coaches and is not up to the Barcelona coach.
Xavi gave up at the time because of the financial fair play crisis. FC Barcelona could not offer him more money. However, now the situation has changed and the coach is asking for what he deserves and because he also comes to negotiate with the league under his arm.
It is necessary to take into account that a large part of the team earns more than the coach and this is unfair in his opinion. Xavi, after what he’s done, should charge more than players like Kessie and Christensen, for example.
In the next few days new meetings will be held to continue the negotiations. Apart from the summit between the coach and the president, his agent will have to speak with Matteo Alemani.
Source: Marca
