Xavi Hernandez
Two days before he partied with his Barcelona team-mates after playing a part in a club record eight league titles, Xavi Hernandez took to the stage at his club’s training ground in front of a packed room of journalists. His wife had commented that he’d been on edge for a few days; his mother, the strongest influence in his life, had finally accepted his decision.
“I didn't want this time to come,” he’d say, “I’ve been dreading this moment.”
Everyone knew that the diminutive midfielder from the nearby industrial city of Terrassa was going to announce that he was leaving the club where he’s been man and boy. A club where he’s shattered the club appearance record with 764 appearances in 17 seasons. The next highest is Carles Puyol with 593.
It’s a long time since he made his league debut against Mallorca in 1998, or his European debut under Louis van Gaal as a substitute at Old Trafford in a Champions League game, but yesterday he picked Van Gaal out for praise, saying: “Van Gaal wasn’t just a manager but a very good trainer of people. He has a lot of wisdom. It’s when I matured as a person.”
From rising through the youth teams when Bernd Schuster was his first hero: “I was fascinated by him. He was so big, with long blond hair, the opposite of me,” to his subsequent heroes Maradona and then Guardiola: “not an idol as such, but a reference point for my whole life,” Xavi would go on to win more trophies than the three aforementioned legends put together.
As a first teamer, Xavi won 23 trophies for the team he and his family supported all their lives. He was a star of three European Cups (with the chance of a fourth), eight Spanish titles, two Copa del Reys (with the chance of a third), Six Spanish Super Cups, two European Super Cups and two World Club titles. He also won the World Cup with Spain and two European Championships and is rightly considered to be the greatest Spanish footballer ever.
As well as the team accolades, he won a host of individual awards. He can win more, but not at the highest level for Xavi, 35, will join Al Saad in Qatar on a two-year contract with an option for a third year. He’ll move there with his family, he’ll play a part in the public relations side of the their 2022 World Cup and he’ll take the Qatari money just as Pep Guardiola and Raul did. That’s his choice and he’s not mercenary – there are several examples of him refusing big money appearances in his career because he wanted to spend more time with his family - $100,000 to go to Kazakhstan for a day to see Rivaldo, for example.
And if he was a big shot would he have flown with EasyJet to Geneva for a few days with friends, when the plane hit turbulence and another passenger nervously shouted, “We’ll be OK, Xavi’s on board!’” And at immigration, rather than be fast-tracked, he waited patiently in line with friends who didn’t have European passports.
His family are paramount in his immediate future, though he also spoke to Guardiola and Raul before making his decision. He could have gone to a far more competitive league, but it’s churlish to be critical of a player who has given so much to so many – including the journalists for whom he provided incredible interviews. He even married a journalist.
I was fortunate to interview him several times. During one, in 2008, he twice waved away Barça’s press officer who wanted him to call time on his talking. Xavi didn’t as he waxed lyrical on subjects from his admiration of Matt Le Tissier (and how the Southampton man loved that when he heard), about Newcastle United’s St. James’ Park, Paul Scholes and Manchester United calling his agent to sign him.
As a journalist pointed out on Thursday when he announced that he was moving, Xavi was the DNA of the greatest ever Barça team.
“I couldn’t have asked for more in my own home at the best club in the world,” he said.
Fans are sad to see him go and have been singing his name all season.
“Fans gave me goose bumps with their chants of 'Xavi, quedate' (Xavi, stay),” he said. “It does make you think and I was offered another year, but it's the right moment to go.”
Is it? He considered leaving last season but his mother and new boss and former team-mate Luis Enrique persuaded him to stay. Still, few expected him to feature in over 40 games as he has done this term. True, he’s less likely to get in Barça’s strongest XI than at any time in the last decade, but he’s far from a liability and remains an excellent footballer, though he’d never admit that.
“Barça’s style of football is a complex one but I tried to work at it to perfection,” he explained about his success on Thursday. “(Johann) Cruyff changed the style (at Barça) to more technical and skills based. Since then we we’ve won the titles playing the type of football we want to play. At Barça I've been able to exploit all of my virtues.”
Xavi has been a dressing room conduit and while he laughed off a suggestion that he was a fire fighter rather than a footballer, he has helped quell the flames of discontent during numerous dressing room spats, most recently when Luis Enrique and Lionel Messi didn’t see eye to eye in January after Barça’s defeat at Real Sociedad.
Barça can’t sign players until 2016 and have no obvious replacement, though Ivan Rakitic has been excellent in his first season for Sevilla, which is more impressive, for, as Xavi explained: “When players come from outside it’s more difficult for them to adapt to our ideas.”
Xavi’s also never hid his intention that he wants to come back as a manager or sporting director and few would be surprised to see him back, first as a B team coach and then as a future Barça manager.
Asked if he had any regrets, he said: “I still didn't score a hat-trick or a goal from a bicycle kick. But there's still time, still three games left.” The final one is the European Cup final against Juventus on June 6.
