{"id":4645,"date":"2026-05-06T06:17:50","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T06:17:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=4645"},"modified":"2026-05-06T06:17:50","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T06:17:50","slug":"chelsea-consider-former-barcelona-boss-as-potential-option-for-full-time-head-coach-role-at-the-club-reports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=4645","title":{"rendered":"Chelsea consider former Barcelona boss as potential option for full time head coach role at the club: Reports"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"article-content\" data-postid=\"5163673\" data-slug-id=\"2778111\">\n<div class=\"vidazoo-player-container\">\n<span class=\"vidazoo-close-btn  hidden \"><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/cmc-predictor\/v2\/cross-icon.png?w=40\" width=\"20\" height=\"20\" alt=\"close\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Chelsea are reportedly plotting a move for former Barcelona manager Xavi. The Blues are looking for a new manager after the sacking of Liam Rosenior last month.<\/p>\n<p>According to a report by Miguel Delaney of The Independent, Xavi is the latest name mentioned internally at Chelsea. The Spaniard is without a club after his sacking at Barcelona, but is keen on managing in the Premier League.<\/p>\n<p><template id=\"template__newsletter-inline-banner-form-combo-widget\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"wrapper\">\n<p><img id=\"subscribe-img\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Thanks for the submission!\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/template><\/p>\n<p>The former manager has joined the shortlist at Stamford Bridge, which ciurrently had Xabi Alonso and Andoni Iraola leading the race. The Blues are yet to have a favorite for the job, but Fabrizio Romano spoke about the interest in the AFC Bournemouth manager this week.<\/p>\n<p><template id=\"also-read-articles-template\"><\/p>\n<p><\/template><\/p>\n<p>He claimed that the Spaniard was taking his time in making a decision, as Manchester United and Crystal Palace were also interested in him.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cFor Iraola, he\u2019s not going to rush into anything. He\u2019s going to have lots of options and offers probably in the summer, not just from the Premier League, there\u2019ll be interest from some top European leagues in him as well. He\u2019ll have to be convinced by the project, but look, Chelsea are a huge club, huge ambitions.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;Iraola has this dream of continuing in the Premier League, and in England, at the highest level possible. This is why he is linked to Man United, this is why he is linked to Chelsea. But my understanding, at the moment with Chels, still nothing advanced or decided.\u201d (via ChelseaNews)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Xavi was linked with Manchester United and Tottenham earlier this year, but both did not appoint the manager.<\/p>\n<h2>Why did Barcelona sack Chelsea target Xavi?<\/h2>\n<p>Xavi spoke to MARCA in 2025, claiming that he was sacked because his standards at Barcelona had dropped. The Spaniard said that he wanted to resign himself, and had offered it earlier in the season, before the club convinced him to change his mind.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cI started my career as Bar\u00e7a manager with high-demands. For players and the club given the club was coming from a period where there wasn\u2019t a lot of demands. My mistake was maintaining those standards only for one year.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote><p>\u201c(After winning La Liga and the Spanish Super Cup), I lowered those high-standards and the players no longer had that same attitude, that same respect, that effort. The standards kept lowering more and more until the point we didn\u2019t win anything my last season. With time, I was able to be self-critical and I told myself: \u2018Damn it, what happened to me?\u2019\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The FIFA Club World Cup winners are the latest club to be linked with Xavi, who is yet to make a decision on his future.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-post-rating-widget\">\n<p><template id=\"post-rating-feedback-modal-template\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"post-rating-feedback-feedback-box\">\n<div class=\"post-rating-feedback-content\">\n<div class=\"post-rating-feedback-data\">\n<p>Why did you not like this content?<\/p>\n<p><textarea id=\"dislike-feedback-text\" rows=\"4\" placeholder=\"Please type your feedback...\"\/>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\n<button class=\"close\">Cancel<\/button><br \/>\n<button class=\"submit\">Submit<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/template><\/p>\n<div class=\"post-rating-widget-parent hidden\">\n<div class=\"rating-parent-container\">\n<div class=\"rating-content-holder\">\n<p>Was this article helpful?<\/p>\n<div class=\"post-rating-action-container\">\n<div class=\"like-container\">\n<button class=\"post-rating-like-button post-rating-button\" data-action=\"like\" title=\"like article\"><br \/>\n<img class=\"post-like-image post-rating-image\" data-lazy=\"\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/like-articles\/upvote-icon-grey.svg\" height=\"20\" width=\"20\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"like selected\"\/><br \/>\n<\/button>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"dislike-container\">\n<button class=\"post-rating-dislike-button post-rating-button\" data-action=\"dislike\" title=\"dislike article\"><br \/>\n<img class=\"post-dis-like-image post-rating-image\" data-lazy=\"\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/like-articles\/upvote-icon-grey.svg\" height=\"20\" width=\"20\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"avatar selected\"\/><br \/>\n<\/button>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Thank You for feedback\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"tag-cloud\">\n<div class=\"tags-text\">\n<div class=\"scrollable-content-holder  article-padding\">\n<p class=\"article-p  \">Quick Links<\/p>\n<p><button id=\"pnAdvancerLeft\" class=\"pn-Advancer pn-Advancer_Left \" type=\"button\"><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" style=\"background: none;\" src=\"https:\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/skm\/assets\/article\/article-scroll-left.svg\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>\n<\/button><\/p>\n<nav id=\"pnProductNav\" class=\"pn-ProductNav\">\n<\/nav>\n<p><button id=\"pnAdvancerRight\" class=\"pn-Advancer pn-Advancer_Right \" type=\"button\"><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" style=\"background: none;\" src=\"https:\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/skm\/assets\/article\/article-scroll-right.svg\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>\n<\/button>\n<\/div>\n<p>More from Sportskeeda<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\n<span class=\"publisher-name\">Edited by Sripad<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Chelsea are reportedly plotting a move for former Barcelona manager Xavi. The Blues are looking&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4646,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4645","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chelsea"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4645","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4645"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4645\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4646"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}