Al Sadd want cash in Xavi exchange: No agreement before Friday
Barcelona's pursuit of Xavi to replace Ronald Koeman is becoming more and more complicated, with Al Sadd now digging their heels in during negotiations and demanding cash in exchange for the Spaniard's services.
Despite initial optimism of completing the appointment fairly quickly, the situation has dragged on with the Qatar club refusing to make life easy for the Blaugrana, despite having assured Xavi during the summer that they wouldn't stand in his way.
Numerous meetings have taken place throughout Thursday as all parties have tried to find an amicable solution, but at the present moment it seems as though Barcelona will be forced to pay Xavi's buyout clause, or at least part of it.
Xavi has led all conversations with Al Sadd's owner, who only wanted to discuss the matter with the Spaniard himself, and the compensation fee is rumoured to be around five million euros.
A new meeting is scheduled for Friday in which a definitive agreement will be sought by the Catalan giants, although it's clear there will be no agreement before that time.
The former Barcelona midfielder has been keeping club employees, Rafa Yuste and Mateu Alemany abridged of the situation in Qatar, with the pair having travelled to Doha as Barcelona's intermediaries.
Failing to find an agreement on Thursday has a further knock-on impact on Barcelona's season, with it now exceedingly likely that Xavi isn't in place before Saturday.
He had initially wanted to be present to watch the club's away trip to Celta Vigo, even if he wasn't on the bench, but that is verging on impossible now.
If there is an agreement reached during Friday's meeting, there will be an official announcement made later in the day by both clubs, whilst Los Cules will then present their new coach during the next week.
At first there had been talk of that happening on Monday, however Joan Laporta has another event on that day, which means it will likely be Tuesday if all things go well.
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