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Barcelona legend Xavi Hernandez has once again fueled talks of a potential return to Catalonia as a coach. The Spaniard is hailed as one of the greatest players in Barcelona's history and left the club in 2015 after winning the Champions League.
Led by Jordi Evole, the Barcelona great participated in a virtual meeting, as he spoke about a wide range of topics including a potential return to his boyhood club. Athletic Bilbao attacker Inaki Williams was also part of the discussion.
Xavi opened up about his Barcelona dream and confirmed that he and his coaching staff are already preparing to coach the Catalan giants one day.
"The greatest illusion I have now is to be a Barça coach and return to Barça to succeed. Not me, but those footballers and for Barça to succeed And, as a consequence, our technical staff, which is preparing a lot and we are very excited."
The midfielder made a staggering 756 appearances for Barcelona and won every trophy at club level. Additionally, Xavi also won the FIFA World Cup and 2 European Championships with Spain, as he retired as one of the most decorated players in the modern era.
Xavi fancies Barcelona hot seat
However, the former Barcelona star revealed his managerial ambitions and affirmed that he would like a return to the Blaugrana in some capacity.
"What I am is a transversal person. I am a club person. And what I would like is to have all the conditions to return at the exact moment to start a project from scratch."
"I have already said that many times but I would like to be able to make football decisions at Barcelona."
In January, Barcelona approached Xavi to replace outgoing manager Ernesto Valverde. The Spaniard, however, rejected advances from the club at the time, as he felt that the timing was not quite right.
The 40-year-old admitted that while the deal didn't come to fruition earlier this year, he would love for it to happen at some point in the near future.
“It is clear that the scenario after an election would be perfect, of course, it would. I don't rule anything out. They came looking for me in January. We were talking and such."
"I told them that neither the circumstances nor the timing matched me. But I hope they happen again"
Barcelona appointed former Real Betis manager Quique Setien in January and have endured an eventful league season since. The Blaugrana are currently two points behind arch-rivals Real Madrid in the La Liga summit after their frustrating 2-2 draw against Celta Vigo in the weekend.
Los Blancos took advantage of Barcelona's slip up and recorded a hard-fought 1-0 victory against Espanyol, as they leapfrogged the Catalans to the top of the table.
Zinedine Zidane's side are looking to win their first La Liga title since the 2016-17 season and the thrilling title race is set to draw to a dramatic climax in the coming weeks.
