Xavi Hernández has broken his silence for the first time since leaving Barça. "I want to tell my truth. I decided not to make any statements after leaving the club out of respect for Barça," the Terrassa native said in an interview. The VanguardThe former Barcelona coach has explained his version of events after being dismissed. "I'm out because I stood up to Alejandro Echevarría. That's how this Barça works; it's practically run by Alejandro Echevarría, who went around talking to players like Sergi Roberto, Araujo, Pedri, and Raphinha and told them I wanted to sell them." The Terrassa native explained that after announcing his departure at the end of the season, the board tried to convince him to stay, although he had doubts. After Barça's elimination against PSG in the Champions League, Echevarría—Laporta's right-hand man—told Xavi that most of the directors weren't sure about him continuing. However, according to Xavi, at a dinner at Laporta's house, she convinced him to stay. "I only asked for one change in the squad; we were only letting go of one player, not ten."

Few footballers at Barça have a recent history as unique as Fermín López's. Perhaps the closest is Gerard Martín, who went from Cornellà to playing in a Champions League semi-final under Hansi Flick. In the case of the Andalusian attacking midfielder, the credit must be given, aside from the player himself and former youth academy director Jordi Roura, to Xavi Hernández. The former Barça coach was the one who placed the most faith in Fermín when he was practically out of the club – he went on loan to Linares – without even having made his debut with the first team. "Xavi is his mentor and, with Flick, little by little, he ended up earning a place," Roura said. He praised the footballer's father in a conversation with ARA"We are very grateful to all the Barça fans and all Catalans for how much they love him," he added.

Former Barcelona coach Xavi Hernández confessed at a leadership conference at ESIC University that the mistake that cost the team its job was "lowering expectations," which, in his opinion, caused the players to lose "the same attitude, the same respect." "My mistake was maintaining that level of expectation for only one year. Since I arrived, we won La Liga and the Spanish Super Cup, but some time later I was self-critical and asked myself: 'Damn it, what happened to me?'"

At the beginning of the season, Pedri expressed on the program Martinez and Brothers the fear he felt for arriving five minutes late to a recovery session with Xavi Hernández. The Terrassa native issued fines of one thousand euros, which doubled for every minute of delay in training. Ousmane Dembélé, currently at PSG, was the player who stretched his wallet the most during this period, followed by his compatriot Jules Kounde. With the arrival of Hansi Flick to the Barça dugout, the relationship between players and coach has undergone some changes. Among them, the entry into force of a rule that penalizes lateness even more. If his pupils don't stick to the schedule, they already know they'll be substitutes in the next match.

All roads led to Xavi Hernández. Closing the return of the Terrassa native, however, has been difficult. So much so that Barça's official announcement came early this Saturday morning, just before two o'clock. By the evening of Friday, the club had closed the deal, with only the final drafting and supervision of the contracts by the lawyers of both parties still to be completed. Xavi will arrive in the Catalan capital this weekend. The coach, who will make his debut in the derby against Espanyol, arrives to lead a new project and restore the team's faith.

Xavi Hernandez has addressed the media and spoken about his future. "I am always aware of what Barça is doing and I am in the market. I have a very good relationship with Laporta, with Jan. He is the one to decide and, in the end, I have not spoken to him. Koeman will continue and I wish him well. I also talk to many players, who are my friends. In recent months I have not had contact with Jan or with anyone on the board. This summer Barça has not proposed anything to me".

The paths of Barça and Xavi Hernández are getting closer and closer. Six years after leaving the club to go to play in (and then to coach) Al-Sadd in Qatar, the Catalan has already opened talks with Joan Laporta and Mateu Alemany to consider becoming the coach of the first team from this summer on. According to what the ARA has been able to confirm, Xavi and the president have scheduled a meeting in the coming days to begin to define the conditions under which he would return to Barcelona, because his intention is to have his team and have control over areas that now operate in parallel to the coaching staff, such as methodology and medical services. He has also held talks with Alemany about the planning of the squad, which is still awaiting such fundamental aspects as the continuity of Leo Messi, whose contract expires on 30 June and who has not yet clearly communicated whether he wants to renew or not.