As the dust settles on Xavi Hernandez’s exit from FC Barcelona, more and more details regarding his final days at the club are starting to emerge.
As was reported earlier this month, there appears to have been a falling out between the manager and several players in the squad which might have played a part in Joan Laporta’s decision to part ways with him.
Barcelona locker room rebelled against Xavi
Indeed, as per Ramon Salmurri (h/t SPORT), some Barcelona players ended up confronting Xavi after it emerged that the manager was considering selling them in the summer.
The incident is understood to have happened during Rayo Vallecano’s visit to Montjuïc on 19 May. Xavi and his coaching staff saw a lot of frostiness coming from the players when they entered the dressing room. And they decided to ask what was going on.
The players explained the reason for their anger. And it was none other than a leak from the club in which they had been given the report drawn up between Xavi and the sporting management in which there was a list of possible departures.
The players who were singled out demanded explanations from the coach. So much so that, given the prevailing tension, the talk prior to the match focused on this issue.
Xavi urged them not to listen to the information they were receiving and reminded them that he had always been straight with the players and that this was not going to change.
Ronald Araujo was the angriest
As has already been reported, Xavi was open to sanctioning the exits of several players, with Ronald Araujo understood to be one among them, if it meant that the club could sign his intended targets.
Upon learning about that, Araujo was said to be one of the angriest in the locker room as he sought an explanation from Xavi for this development.
Xavi then explained to the Uruguayan international that he had made his continuity a priority, but that the club told him that if an offer of more than €90 million arrives, they may be obliged to accept it.
The relationship between the defender and the former manager is understood to have deteriorated considerably in the final weeks of the season.
