Barcelona’s decision to sack Xavi will cost them €6.5million (£5.5m; $7.1m) — at a time when the club have a €130m hole in their accounts.
Xavi was sacked by Barcelona on Friday, ahead of their final La Liga fixture of the season against Sevilla on Sunday. The 44-year-old had announced in January that he would leave the club at the end of this campaign with a year remaining on his contract, only for that decision to be reversed last month.
Had Xavi walked away as he had initially planned, he would not have been due any compensation from Barcelona.
But now, while Xavi has written off his salary of around €11m for next season, he will be reimbursed the €2.5m he paid out of his own pocket to leave his contract with Qatari side Al Shabab early to join Barcelona in 2021. It is unclear whether Barcelona had to pay Xavi back this fee regardless of the manner of his departure. Another €4m will be paid to Xavi’s outgoing backroom staff.
The €6.5m will not help Barcelona’s cornering financial situation, with the Catalan club already needing to find €130m by the end of June in order to comply with La Liga’s squad cost limit.
Meanwhile, Barcelona are set to appoint former Bayern Munich and Germany boss Hansi Flick as their new head coach to replace Xavi.
Barcelona finished second in La Liga after Sunday’s 2-1 win at Sevilla, qualifying them for the Champions League next season. They previously won the league title under Xavi in 2022-23.
(Fran Santiago/Getty Images)
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