Recently announcing his retirement at the end of this season ahead of a move into coaching, Xavi Hernández still has a long way to go before he will be ready to lead the elite.
But with expectations in Barcelona huge, does he already have a thankless task ahead of him?
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Barcelona’s midfielder Xavi Hernandez celebrates one of many titles he won at the Camp Nou
Xavi has slowly been winding down his playing career for four years, but with the confirmation that he will hang up his boots for good at the end of this season, there is already an expectation that his coaching career will start at breakneck speed.
The midfielder, who was the embodiment of Barcelona’s all-conquering style that peaked under Pep Guardiola, has in his absence from Catalonia been elevated to the status of a deity-like saviour figure who will return to the Camp Nou and orchestrate a new era of all-passing, all-conquering brilliance. All before he has done any real coaching of note.
The expectations are far greater than anything Pep Guardiola was faced with when he took over as Barcelona coach in 2008. If anything, a vocal proportion of onlookers expected that decision to put a relatively inexperienced coach in charge of the tricky post-Frank Rijkaard transition at the Camp Nou to end in failure. There was certainly nothing like the kind of widespread assumed brilliance that has already been attached to Xavi and his forthcoming coaching career.
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And even if Guardiola was hardly a seasoned veteran when he took charge of Barça’s seniors, nor was it true that he dived straight into the deep end. First, there was the five months he spent in Mexico with Juanma Lillo at Dorados de Sinaloa. Though in principle signed as a player, injuries kept Guardiola out of action for long stretches, and he spent more of his time in Mexico instructing younger teammates on their positioning after training sessions, detailing Lillo’s drills in his notebook, and providing information about opponents for the manager.
Then there was his year with Barça B, grafting in the Spanish lower leagues.
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Pep Guardiola was allowed to work his way up to managing Barcelona’s first-team
It was there that he had his first experience of chasing a trophy as a coach (a successful chase, winning the fourth division). That season out of the spotlight allowed Pep to put into practice the concepts he had learned from Lillo, old mentor Johan Cruyff, and Marcelo Bielsa. It also allowed him time to refine ideas, and equally important, time to make mistakes that is not afforded at a senior side.
Expecting Xavi to take charge of the Blaugrana without a similar easing-in experience would be a mistake. The midfielder, who is no fool, is well aware of that too. Speaking to Catalunya Radio’s Ricard Torquemada last year, the Catalan outlined a less demanding beginning in the coaching world.
“I’d like to start coaching here in Qatar. I think it’s an ideal environment to get experience, test myself, organise staff. Then other things will come after that. Starting here would give me more security, in the short-term I think my first step as a coach will be here.â€
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Prying eyes will be scrutinising how much Xavi learnt from Guardiola.
And though he seems to have the right idea about a gradual learning experience, there is one red flag regarding Xavi’s potential as a coach that shouldn’t be overlooked. The playmaker has made no secret of the kind of football he wants his teams to play – even the press release confirming his retirement referred to the influence of Cruyff and La Masia – and that has only furthered the appetite to see him back in Barcelona.
But in contrast to Guardiola, who rarely criticises the style or approach of other teams, Xavi has a habit of straying into the territory of dogma, which doesn’t bode well.
In interviews the midfielder frequently criticises sides who play less proactive football, going as far as to call them boring. “Teams that play 4-5-1 bore me, teams who don’t want the ball. It’s useful to see things I’m not going to do when I’m a coach,†he said in November.
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Al-Sadd’s Xavi Hernandez vies for the ball with Al-Ahli’s Claudemir
It’s a far cry from Guardiola congratulating Bristol City boss Lee Johnson after Man City’s Carabao Cup semi-final in 2018 for example, when he noted that the opposition may have played “with long balls†but that they nonetheless “came here trying to playâ€.
Guardiola’s open-mindedness and willing to learn from a variety of coaches and styles has kept him on the top for all of these years and allowed his sides to evolve. It’s far from clear that Xavi possesses that same willingness to learn and adapt.
We will only find out for sure once he starts to try and put his ideas into practice, and there is no guarantee he will be good enough to do that at Barcelona – despite the huge hype over his potential.
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