Barcelona vice-president Rafa Yuste has revealed Xavi has not demanded any big-money signings to continue his stay as manager and instead simply wants the chance to continue developing young players.
Despite publicly vowing to step down this summer, Xavi agreed to stay for at least one more season during a meeting with Yuste, president Joan Laporta and a handful of high-ranking officials on Wednesday evening.
Reports had claimed Xavi had demanded Barcelona break the bank and splash out on the likes of Bayern Munich’s Joshua Kimmich and Manchester City’s Bernardo Silva if they wanted to retain his services, but Yuste has now shot those suggestions down.
“I am delighted because I have always defended the continuity of the model that we started two-and-a-half years ago,” Yuste told the media. “It was a friendly meeting, we talked about the club in the hope of making history again, which we will.
“We did not talk about changes at all. It was not difficult to convince anyone because Xavi has shown his enthusiasm. We must give him and his staff the support needed to continue with this project.
“Xavi is very excited about the project. He continues out of enthusiasm, because he is a Cule and because he loves us. There is a project that he wants to develop and continue. It is based on youth.”
Yuste added: “We are improving the team’s game and generating enthusiasm with young people like [Pau] Cubarsi, Lamine [Yamal], Fermin [Lopez]…For me, this gives a big plus and Xavi has achieved it.”
Further stressing the absence of transfer talks, Yuste insisted Barcelona are prioritising balancing their finances to a point where they can spend all the money they generate this summer.
“First of all we have to work to achieve the 1-1 formula,” Yuste explained.
Xavi is expected to speak to the press on Thursday afternoon to confirm his decision to remain manager.