Barcelona are prepared for a new era as Xavi Hernandez has announced his decision: he's set to leave the club at the end of the current season.
No way back for Xavi, even if Barça will win the Champions League in May he won't change his mind as he's prepared to try new chapter and spend some time with the family after difficult times as Barcelona manager in the recent months.
Xavi felt that the atmosphere around the club and specifically the team was already very negative since July.
At the beginning of the season the situation started to be complicated, then Xavi understood that in any case he was going to part ways with Barcelona at the end of the season and he decided to make it public after one more, disappointing defeat against Villarreal playing at home.
What's next for Barcelona? It's worth to clarify that the president Joan Laporta will decide together with the board, specifically the director Deco who's gonna support in the decision process to find the best manager for Barça job.
It's going to take some time, nothing is imminent or close at this stage. It's gonna be about ideas, internal discussions and also contacts with some important agents, this is not a fast process also because Barça can't fail after this disappointing season and the strong words from Xavi in press conference.
Let's clarify that nothing is close with Youth team manager and former Barça CB Rafa Marquez; he's always been in the rumours but nothing is close or imminent with the Mexican coach, just one of the names discussed.
Barcelona have also not made any contact with former club's midfielder Thiago Motta who's doing fantastic job at Bologna, but sources say he's expected to stay in Serie A next season too.
More candidates will follow for sure, for example Roberto de Zerbi is appreciated by both Liverpool (Xabi Alonso and De Zerbi are in the list for sure) and Barça, but it's still too early to decide on his future, also because he wants to focus on second half of the season at Brighton.
Someone in the board appreciates Imanol, doing excellent job at Real Sociedad; but contacts didn't take place so far. Many rumours about Jurgen Klopp, that's obvious but he announced that doesn't want to coach any club next season and there's no contact from Barça side.
Barcelona will take their time, it's a crucial process for the club in a crucial moment for the team.
They can't make any mistake, the process is just at the beginning and expect more names to follow up in the list.
