Xavi ready to coach Barcelona

Xavi believes he is ready to manage Barcelona but insists there cannot be any “toxicity” in the dressing room.

The midfielder spent the majority of his playing career with Barcelona, from 1998 to 2015, playing more than 700 matches.

During his time at the club he won eight La Liga titles and lifted four Champions League trophies and also played a crucial role in Spain’s three successive major tournament wins at Euro 2008, World Cup 2010 and Euro 2012.

In recent years he has moved into management with Qatar Stars League club Al Sadd, where he finished his playing career.

“I am clear that I want to return to Barcelona, I am very excited,” Xavi said in an interview with La Vanguardia.

“Now that I have seen myself coaching I think I can bring things to the players.

“But I made it clear to them that I saw myself in a project that started from zero and in which the decision-making was mine.”

Barcelona have already shown an interest in their former midfielder, reportedly approaching Xavi for the job before Ernesto Valverde was sacked in January, but the Spaniard did not think it was the right time.

On that decision, he added, “I have no problem: I don’t hide, I don’t take it back.

“I would like to work together with people in whom I have confidence, with whom there is loyalty and who are very valid people.

“There can’t be anyone toxic around the dressing room.”

Outlining what he would want to see in his Barcelona team, Xavi labelled several of their current side – including Lionel Messi, defender Gerard Pique and goalkeeper Marc-Andre Ter Stegen – the best in the world in their respective positions and midfielder Frenkie De Jong and Arthur as players to “win for 10 more years”.

Addressing the wide positions, he evoked the possible return of Neymar or a move for Borussia Dortmund and England’s Jadon Sancho or fellow Bundesliga star Serge Gnabry of Bayern Munich.

“I don’t know if Neymar would fit in due to the social issue, but in football terms I have no doubts it would be a spectacular signing,” he said of the Brazil star who played for the club from 2013 to 2017 before joining Paris Saint-Germain.

“They don’t need many new players: maybe Jadon Sancho, Serge Gnabry…”

Comments

Alleged Lagos deadly cult leader "okoko danger" arrested

The Lagos State Police Command says it has arrested a suspected leader of the Aiye confraternity, a secret cult group in the state, who it identified simply as Shola. The suspect was said to be widely known in cult circles in the Mile 2-Badagry expressway axis as Okoko Danger. The Command announced it also arrested four other suspected members of the dreaded gang, namely Idris Musa, 19; Oluwaseyi Oguntobi, 23; Ramon Adebimpe, 18; and Saheed Kareem, 19. The police alleged that Shola, who they described as “’a deadly and notorious armed robber”, was behind the many killings in the Okokomaiko, Igando, Isheri-Osun and Ikotun areas of the state. The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Hakeem Odumosu, told journalists yesterday at the Command Headquarters, Ikeja, that on February 27, 2020 at about 4.20pm, police operatives from the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, acting on credible intelligence, stormed a hideout at Iyana-Iba, where Shola and his gang members were said to be hibernating. “Four l

Lekki Tollgate incident can be equated to a mas*acre — Lagos ENDSARS Panel

The Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry on Restitution for Victims of SARS Related Ab*ses and Other Matters (Lagos EndSARS Panel) has reported the Lekki Tollgate sh*otings of October 20, 2020, as a mas*acre. The panel indicted soldiers and implicated Nigeria’s security agents in the k*lling and forced disappearances of harmless and unarmed youths protesting at Lekki Tollgate on October 20, 2020. The Justice Doris Okuwobi-led panel made the revelation in a 309-page report submitted to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State on Monday, November 14. According to the report, nine protesters were confirmed d*ad while four others were presumed d*ad. The report listed 48 names as those who were casualties of the Lekki incident. Among the 48 casualties listed, 24 sustained g*nshot injuries, while 15 others were as*aulted by soldiers and police. “At the Lekki Toll Gate, officers of the Nigerian Army sh*t, injured and k*lled unarmed helpless and defenseless protesters, with

EFCC releases Obi Cubana after three nights in custody

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has finally released businessman Obi Cubana. He was arrested and taken to the headquarters of the anti-graft agency, Jabi, Abuja, on Monday, November 1, following allegations of money laundering and tax fr*ud. He was, however, released on Thursday evening, November 4, after he had spent three days in detention undergoing interrogations. According to the spokesman of the commission, Wilson Uwujaren, who confirmed the release to reporters on Thursday night, Cubana was allowed to go after the crack detectives of the commission completed their questioning.

Laie.Tv

Search This Blog