Xavi has agreed to his departure with Al Sadd and is all set to join Barcelona as their new head coach. The former midfielder was the favourite to permanently replace Ronald Koeman, and he is now on his way. The managerial transfer has been given the here we go signal by Fabrizio Romano, which means that the deal is as good as done.

Koeman was sacked after a 1-0 loss to Rayo Vallecano, following Barcelona’s worst start to the league in over 30 years. Sergi Barjuan is temporarily in charge of the first team, and has drawn and won a game each.

On Wednesday, Xavi said: ‘I’ve been talking to Barca for days, it’s done,’ Xavi said.

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‘But now it depends on the conversations between clubs, they need to reach an agreement. Barca is coming to talk, we are all eager and excited. We’ll see if it ends up being done.

‘I really want to go home. I hope it happens. I have a contract and now the clubs have to negotiate. They already know my position.’

Al Sadd has also confirmed that Xavi has left the club and will be returning to Barcelona. The release clause in his contract was around €5 million, and the Catalonians have completed all the negotiations to seal his return to Camp Nou.

Barcelona will have Barjuan in charge of their La Liga game this weekend and will announce the return of Xavi soon. They are expected to present him to the fans next week as their new first-team manager.