Barcelona sacked Ronald Koeman last week and immediately pinpointed club legend Xavi as their top candidate to replace the Dutchman in the Camp Nou dugout. However, he is currently in charge of Qatar outfit Al-Sadd, who have made it very clear they want to keep the Spaniard.

According to Goal, Barca executives Rafa Yuste and director of football Mateu Alemany traveled to Doha following the club's win over Dynamo Kyiv on Tuesday night. There's reportedly a two-and-a-half-year contract awaiting Xavi at Barcelona and they're hoping to appoint him next week.

But, Al-Sadd CEO had this to say about the situation:

“We welcome the visit of the administrative delegation from Barcelona, and we appreciate and respect this,” said CEO Turki Al-Ali. “The club's position is clear from the beginning – we are committed to keeping our coach Xavi with us and we cannot have him leave at this sensitive time of the season.”

It's understandable why they want to keep the 41-year-old, but the appeal of this job would be far too great to turn down. After all, Xavi is one of the best midfielders in club history. Barcelona president Joan Laporta discussed how Xavi has always been their number one target:

“My opinion of Xavi as a coach is that he is fine, he is in an interesting process,” he told reporters. “I have very good references, I speak with him very often and I know his opinion about the team, but they are confidential conversations between friends.

“We appreciate each other and my opinion of him is very good. I have always said that one day he would coach Barca. I trust the people around me. We will see how everything evolves.”

Barcelona is currently ninth in the La Liga table and Tuesday was their first victory in Europe this term. Needless to say, a change had to be made and hopefully, the Catalans can name Xavi their next boss very soon.