Exclusive: Fabrizio Romano on whether or not we could see Xavi U-turn over Barcelona exit

Transfer news expert Fabrizio Romano has weighed in on the situation surrounding Xavi’s future as Barcelona manager as club president Joan Laporta admits he’d like to try to talk him round into staying.

Xavi recently announced that he’d be leaving his position at the Nou Camp at the end of this season, but the team’s performances have improved a lot lately, so it could be that there’s a case for him now continuing in the job.

Nothing has been decided yet, but it seems talks will take place at the end of the season to see if Xavi can be persuaded to change his mind, according to Romano.

Speaking exclusively to CaughtOffside for his latest Daily Briefing column, Romano summed up his latest information on the situation, with no mention yet of other candidates to replace Xavi, which could perhaps be a hint in itself.

Xavi Barcelona manager situation latest from Romano

“Joan Laporta has spoken about trying to change Xavi’s mind about leaving Barcelona at the end of the season, saying he feels the situation could still be open and that there will be further talks soon,” Romano said.

“As I’ve said before, my understanding is that Laporta will insist to keep Xavi, he will wait until the end of the season and there will be more discussions to keep Xavi at Barca beyond this season and change his mind. Let’s see if Barca will be able to make it happen, it’s only up to Xavi…nothing else.

“Matteo Moretto has more on this in his column here – his information is that Xavi has no plans to change his mind and is still planning to leave, but let’s see what Barca can do to change the situation.”

Barca fans will be eagerly waiting to see what happens with this, as it seems there is now hope that their legendary former player can continue his journey as manager of the Catalan giants.