Xavi has announced that he is staying in Barcelona, but has agreed to few signings and changes in the physiotherapists and physical preparation.
Xavi Hernández will continue as the coach of Barcelona next season after two meetings that took place last Wednesday. The first meeting occurred at the Ciudad Deportiva between Xavi, Deco, and Alejandro Echevarría, and the second at the president’s home with these three plus Laporta and Yuste.
There were a number of conditions for Xavi to continue as coach. The first was to verify that the coach was enthusiastic and eager to continue with the project, something Laporta realized as soon as he saw the coach entering his house, according to Marca.
However, there were some operational issues that needed to be clarified. These are not new since Xavi and Deco have been discussing and working on them for some time. The first of these was related to signings.
Although some media outlets reported that the coach was going to demand more reinforcements and players, the truth is that there was nothing of the sort. Xavi did not make requests in that regard, according to Marca.
Deco explained to him the financial situation of the club regarding the market. Currently, very little can be done. There will be few reinforcements, and Xavi is already aware of this. If additional revenue eventually comes in, there might be a slight easing, but with great caution.
Changes will indeed occur in the areas of physical preparation and physiotherapists. In the first instance, Julio Tous, one of the world’s leading experts in strength training for players who was previously at the club a few years ago, will join the team.
The improvement of physical preparation has been a point of emphasis for some time at the request of the players. This started mid-season and will now be further strengthened with Tous.
As for physiotherapy, Raúl Martínez will lead this department. He has been collaborating with Barcelona for some time, having previously been with the Spanish Federation, and will now be responsible for greater injury prevention, which has significantly harmed the team this season.
He will also have the task of ‘educating’ the young players in this aspect. As reported by Marca, Xavi raised no objections to either of the two proposals.
