PETE JENSON: Xavi was never going to be the second coming of Pep Guardiola for Barcelona… the club legend has been underappreciated, undermined and never stood at chance with the Catalan giants

Underappreciated and then undermined, Spain and Barca great Xavi never really had a chance at Barcelona. The club has form for chewing up and spitting out its legends and the 44-year-old, who won everything in the game for club and country, is now in danger of being remembered more for his comical final season at the club he loves, than for his multiple trophies.

It’s long since been clear that he is NOT the second coming of Pep Guardiola. He’s not a visionary nor does he possess the same lightning quick mental reflexes to change games from the touchline. But he still won LaLiga last season, Barcelona’s first without Lionel Messi, and who’s to say it won’t be their last for a while.

His biggest mistake was not to use that triumph to build a power base within the club. He should have laid down markers having delivered the title but instead he allowed others at the club to make all the moves.

Xavi had an excellent working relationship with Sporting Director duo Mateu Alemany and Jordi Cruyff but both left the club and Xavi never seemed to raise his voice for them to stay. In their place came Deco, and with his appointment, super-agent Jorge Mendes seemed to gain even more influence at the club.

Xavi also failed to get what he wanted last summer in the transfer market. He believed the big signing should be Real Sociedad’s holding midfielder Martin Zubimendi, the only player he saw capable of replacing the departed Sergio Busquets. But instead the club went for a much cheaper option bringing in former Southampton midfield schemer Oriol Romeu.

Many will point figures at the Spaniard though it’s fair to say he was always going to struggle

Xavi did get Ilkay Gundogan. But he also wanted the club to keep Ousmane Dembele. The Frenchman’s ambidextrous unpredictability and lightning pace were highly valued by Xavi but Barcelona sold him to Paris Saint-Germain where he is Ligue 1‘s top assist provider.

On deadline day the club went full-Mendes. Having moved Ansu Fati to Brighton, they signed Joao Cancelo and Joao Felix on loan (all Gestifute players). It wasn’t what Xavi wanted but the message from the club was that they had pulled off a deadline-day coup and that the squad was now better than ever.

It’s true that Romeu had shone for Girona the previous season and Xavi failed to get anything like the same level from him. He also showed that he lacked the ability to adjust to the players that he had been given but there were always pressures to play certain players that made it that little bit more difficult.

There seemed to be an unwritten rule that Robert Lewandowski had to play every minute of every game and Xavi towed the line until five games back when he started to take him off in matches – it seemed that he had decided to do things his way but it was too late.

His authority had already been severely damaged by an incident that happened ahead of Barcelona’s last Champions League game when he left Lewandowski out of his squad for the game against Royal Antwerp.

President Joan Laporta and Sporting Director Deco had a word in his ear and he had to issue a second squad list with Lewandowski in it. It made him look weak – the memories of him leading the team to win the league last season were now a distant memory; one that he did his best to remind people of in awkward media conferences.

Supporters had hoped that Xavi could emulate the success of former boss Pep Guardiola

President Joan Laporta (L) had a word in the ear to Xavi, amid growing pressure on the boss

President Laporta has not always helped his coach. He was pictured with B-team manager Rafa Marquez a day after Barcelona had drawn against Rayo Vallecano and amid suggestions patience was running out and that the club were thinking of replacing Xavi with Marquez.

The photograph of Laporta at the training ground after another defeat also hit the wrong note. He looked like the stern headmaster lecturing the naughty children, and with Xavi looking on with all the authority of a supply teacher.

He will now leave at the end of his second full season at the club. He said last week that Barcelona only appreciates its players and coaches when they are gone and it’s true there are a string of historic figures who have been bundled out the back door or forced to leave ahead of time.

Pep Guardiola left the club after just four years in part because he could no longer stand the toxicity of his relationship with then president Sandro Rosell. He had a similarly uncomfortable departure as a player. 

Lionel Messi moved on after his dad flew 6,000 miles from Argentina to sign his new contract only to arrive at Barcelona and be told it had been taken off the table. Former player and two-time league winner Ernesto Valverde was sacked in January with the team top by another former president Josep Bartomeu. 

Xavi’s side currently sit fourth in LaLiga and are 11 points behind league leaders Girona

And that same president had also sacked Sporting Director and former Barca keeper Andoni Zubizarreta after he had presided over three of the smartest signings in the club’s recent history – Marc Andre ter Stegen, Luis Suarez and Ivan Rakitic. And the player who scored the goal that won Barcelona their first European Cup, Ronald Koeman, was also dumped unceremoniously.

All that remains is to see if Xavi really can stay until June or if him staying in charge of players who know he will not be there next season ends up being unsustainable. There are also huge questions about what happens next for him. 

He has only just turned 44 and ought to have a quarter of a century of coaching ahead of him but having started at the top, where does he go from here?

It’s a sorry end to what should have been a successful period in his own and the club’s history. He was always going to coach Barcelona one day, but that day has been and is almost gone with only last season’s league title to show for it.