Barcelona and Spanish footballing legend Xavi ended his career as a player earlier in the week. The midfielder won the lot in a career that spanned 22 years but featured just two clubs.
After finishing with the Catalonian side in 2015 he moved to Qatari club Al Sadd to round off his career. He’s made no secret of the fact he wants to manage Barcelona in the future but will have to learn the management game first with a start in Qatar most likely.
Given the man’s history, know-how and experience of winning, should Celtic be interested?
A gut feeling
You can just tell that some guys are going to make good managers. The likes of Zinedine Zidane and Pep Guardiola were always likely to be successful in the dugout given their illustrious careers. Xavi has the same feeling about him.
The midfielder was one of the finest technicians ever to play the game. He always understood where he was on the pitch and how best to help manoeuvre the ball to exploit the opposition. His skillset would be likely to transfer well to the dugout.
His Barcelona side played some of the best football ever seen in a glory period between 2008 and 2012. Xavi’s teams would undoubtedly aim to play the same way – an attraction to any club taking him on.
Verdict
The real issue with any appointment for Xavi would be risk. The 39-year-old would be going in with little or no experience of managing in the game and that could be damaging for Celtic right now.
We have very little margin for error with ten-in-a-row and more domestic success achievable. Xavi is likely to succeed as a manager but would perhaps just take too long to bed in.
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