Al Sadd Club in Qatar announced today via its official Twitter account the transfer of its coach and former Barcelona star, Xavi Hernandez, to Barcelona to take over as the head coach of the Catalan team. Al Sadd stated that negotiations with Barcelona reached a happy conclusion for both parties after Barcelona agreed to pay the release clause, which Spanish media previously reported to be 5 million euros.
Al Sadd's executive director, Turki Al-Ali, tweeted: "Al Sadd is pleased with Xavi's transfer to Barcelona after paying the stipulated release clause in his contract. We have agreed with Barcelona for future cooperation. Xavi is an important part of Al Sadd's history, and we wish him all the best in the next phase."
On another note, Barcelona's vice president, Rafa Yuste, confirmed that Al Sadd agreed to terminate Xavi's contract without specifying the nature of the agreement. Sources indicated that Barcelona attempted to compensate Al Sadd by playing a friendly match with them in Doha, as well as another in Spain as part of the Gamper Trophy.
