Barcelona and its supporters look to Xavi and Laporta

Xavi landed on Monday in Barcelona and nearly collapsed El Prat airport. I heard that some of the club’s directors were less than happy with all the fuss and even suggested that the player had been looking for it. I don’t believe that. Xavi’s never been one to seek the limelight, quite the opposite, and he doesn’t need anything like that to improve his popularity. He was simply coming for his holidays (finally, after two years without seeing his homeland due to the pandemic) and his arrival coincided with a set of results the night before that nobody could have expected. The Madrid sides won and Barça lost, all by a single goal. If the results had been the other way round there wouldn’t have been such a furor.

Barcelona fans looking anxiously to the future

The ruckus came about because Laporta has yet to give his opinion on Koeman, just as Messi has not yet given his opinion on where he’ll be next season. Barça’s future right now is up in the air and people are looking to someone they feel they can trust, but this is not the time to believe in miracles. Some see in Xavi a second Guardiola, but when Pep took over the club had Puyol, Xavi, Iniesta, Alves and a Messi who was just getting better and better… Right now there are few remnants left of that glorious team. Most of the best have gone, as well as the most judicious. If Puyol and Xavi were there the dressing room wouldn’t be in the state it is.

Laporta had some good news yesterday, with his announcement of a 500 million euro credit line from Goldman Sachs, a decent injection of cash to move things along, but he still needs a sporting project. At times it looked like his condition of irredeemable optimist was having a curative effect on the club. A month ago Barça were cup winners and were back in the race for LaLiga after clawing back the galactic advantage Atleti had built up. But the effect vanished in Granada. Koeman’s time seems to be up and the focus has turned hopefully to Xavi. What I don’t know is if it would be prudent for him to take over while there are former teammates burned by the recent years still there. Let’s see.