‘New Chapter’—Truth Behind Man Utd Links With Barcelona Legend Xavi

The Spaniard was on the unemployment line throughout Ruben Amorim’s spell at Old Trafford.

Xavi Hernández has been out of the management game since leaving Barcelona 18 months ago. / Fran Santiago/Getty Images

There is reportedly some truth to the wild links billing Barcelona legend Xavi Hernández as a candidate for Manchester United’s vacant managerial position, especially from the coach’s side.

Xavi has been out of work since May 2024, when his divisive tenure as Barça boss was abruptly concluded. The iconic former midfielder returned to his boyhood club in November 2021, taking over during the height of the institution’s financial crisis.

A first full season brought glory in the Spanish Super Cup and the 2022–23 La Liga title ahead of a Real Madrid side spearheaded by a Ballon d’Or-winning iteration of Karim Benzema. However, the tensions which underpinned Barcelona’s triumph that year spilled out the following season, which concluded without a trophy as Xavi was ultimately relieved of his duties.

FREE NEWSLETTER. New SI FC Newsletter Global Embed. Sign Up to Get Informed With SI FC. dark

The ambitious tactician has been filling his time with sporadic friendly matches and is now “ready” to get back onto the touchline and embrace a “new chapter”, according to Fabrizio Romano. Xavi “would love to take a job in the Premier League” and is described as being “very open” to the opportunity presented by the Manchester United hot seat left open by Ruben Amorim’s departure.

However, the same report stresses that “nothing advanced” and “nothing concrete” has arisen between the club and Xavi. At this point in time, all the enthusiasm is emanating from the out-of-work coach. United may be wise to avoid entertaining this option.

---

Why Man Utd Should Avoid Nightmare Xavi Appointment

Xavi is thought to be keen on the job. / Fran Santiago/Getty Images

Xavi’s return to Barcelona was preordained. Here was the perfect continuation of a playing style which has been breached in Catalonia since Vic Buckingham’s appointment in 1969. The English former Ajax coach was the first to lay the foundations which Rinus Michels strengthened before Johan Cruyff took over. First as a player and then a trophy-laden manager, the impossibly influential Dutchman is upheld almost as a deity by Pep Guardiola, the man that Xavi would unashamedly admire himself.

“Johan Cruyff painted the chapel,” Guardiola once mused. “And Barcelona coaches since merely restore or improve it.” Xavi was too focused on the past to look at anything which had come after it.

Upon his Barcelona appointment, with a little more than two years coaching in Qatar on his résumé, Xavi made it abundantly clear how fanatically wedded he was to Barcelona’s ideals of possession. “We cannot lose our ‘house style,’” he declared. “That’s the thing which has made the club great.”

The style of football which Xavi tried to implement at Barcelona was outdated by the time he retired, let alone upon his return six years later. The secret to Guardiola’s success is not a religious devotion to Cruyff’s ideals, but continual adaptation.

Xavi (right) is emphatically not the second-coming of Pep Guardiola. / Alex Caparros/Getty Images

During his two full seasons as Barcelona boss, Xavi did inspire a stranglehold of the ball—no La Liga team could match their average of 64% possession. Yet any sense of sustained penetration was painfully lacking throughout. Barça won their solitary league title under Xavi thanks in no small part to Robert Lewandowski’s ability to score half-chances and a miserly defense: half of their La Liga wins were by a single goal margin, with 1–0 the most common scoreline.

Ultimately, Xavi’s biggest failing was an ignorance of his own role in those iconic Barcelona teams. “I lose my patience because I see the pass but what I think should happen doesn’t happen,” he admitted shortly before announcing his decision to quit in January 2024. The club’s hierarchy convinced Xavi to stay, confirming the news in April, less than a month before his sacking was officially revealed in May.

“Barcelona is the most difficult club to manage in the world,” was one of Xavi’s favourite lines throughout his near three years at the helm. Many of the figures to succeed Sir Alex Ferguson would argue that Manchester United hold that distinction.

Next. Amorim replacements. Six Potential Replacements for Ruben Amorim As Man Utd Manager. dark

Ex-United defender Gary Neville drew a straight line between the two clubs upon the announcement of Amorim’s exit. “Barcelona will never change for anybody,” he told Sky Sports. “I don’t believe United should change for anybody.

“The club has to find a manager who has got experience and who’s willing to play fast, entertaining, attacking and aggressive football.”

Xavi has already failed to implement a different style at a giant club still living in the past. Even in their current financial crisis, Barcelona still dwarf almost all the other rival competition in Spain, ensuring the floor stands as high as a third-placed finish. Amorim proved how low United can sink last season.

---

READ THE LATEST SOCCER NEWS, TRANSFER RUMORS AND MATCH REACTION

feed