Xavi Hernandez has reportedly reached a total agreement to become the new Barcelona manager – and that could have some significance for Newcastle United.
According to SPORT, the 41-year-old is now set to return to the Nou Camp.
Last night, the club relieved Ronald Koeman of his duties following a 1-0 defeat to Rayo Vallecano in La Liga.
The loss has left Barca languishing in ninth place in the table.
They are currently six points off the four teams at the top (Real Madrid, Sevilla, Real Betis and Real Sociedad, and performances have been poor.
Joan Laporta has acted swiftly, and it looks like the announcement of Xavi could arrive very soon.
Should he get the gig as expected, it will be interesting to see which players will be boosted.
Ousmane Dembele hasn’t feature so far this season due to injury.
In recent weeks he has been linked with a move to Newcastle following the takeover.
Goal claimed the France international would actually be open to a move to St. James’ Park.
But the impending arrival of Xavi may complicate things.
According to the Metro, he has ‘full confidence’ in the 24-year-old, and is hopeful of getting him to sign a new contract at the Nou Camp. Journalist Gerard Romero has also suggested this.
Xavi has previously sang Dembele’s praises, saying in 2018 he was capable of doing ‘the same things as Pele, Diego Maradona and Zinedine Zidane’.
Xavi becoming Barcelona manager might ruin Newcastle’s Dembele pursuit
It seems as though Xavi is a big admirer of Dembele.
Newcastle are apparently keen, but one would imagine if Xavi starts getting the best out of his winger then he won’t want to leave the Nou Camp.
He’d surely love to make it work there, and Xavi might be his catalyst.
Whether Dembele would be the right kind of signing for Newcastle is questionable anyway.
Newcastle don’t particularly need wingers at the moment, more centre-backs, a creative midfielder and another striker.
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