Football feature: FC Barcelona - a team in transition or one in big trouble?

The double failure has suddenly put a lot of scrutiny on manager Xavi Hernandez, and understandably so. He might be a legendary figure in one of their finest eras, but there’s only so much goodwill that buys you once results dry up.

To make things worse, the board and the president, Joan Laporta went to great lengths to ensure Xavi got the reinforcements he deemed necessary to make Barcelona contenders again. 

They activated several ‘economic levers’, selling parts of their future revenue sources for short-term cash. 

The method might have seemed questionable, but it worked – Xavi got the signings he wanted, and the club’s finances look better in the short term. 

However, this doesn’t mask the fact that Barcelona has desperately needed a clear-out for quite some time. 

And while Xavi has seen a few of the more expensive mistakes from the Josep Bartomeu era leave, there are still players on the club’s books who they’d instead moved on. 

So Barcelona finds themselves in a very tricky situation – they need both a short and long-term rebuild, which would require both time and patience. 

However, what work they’ve put in during their short-term rebuild hasn’t yet paid off. Yes, the squad looks better, and at the start of Xavi’s reign, they played some excellent football. 

But the results just haven’t been there lately – and that matters most to a club like Barcelona, who need silverware and a prolonged run in the Champions League to improve their revenue streams. 

The real question, though, is what next? Does the club choose to stick with Xavi and plan for the long-term rebuild, something that will be needed regardless of who the man in the dugout is? 

Or do they make the call to sack the club legend despite him being in his first season as Barcelona manager and decide to do the long-term rebuild with another man at the helm? 

One thing is for sure – Barca currently finds themselves in the unenviable position of being in a mess while also needing to work hard to refurbish a squad that needs refreshment. And there is no easy answer to any of the questions posed above. 

Yet what is undeniable is that something needs to change for them in the short term. The club can afford an early exit in the Champions League – or not get a top-four finish in La Liga, which looks unlikely now, but La Liga is more competitive than it’s been in years. 

It will undoubtedly be an interesting few weeks in the corridors of power at Camp Nou.