Thursday 30 October 2008

Xavi renewal talks advancing slowly

Catalan sports paper Sport claims that the negotiations on the contract renewal of Barcelona attacking midfielder and Spanish international Xavi (28), whose current contract expires in 2010, are still going on (read more here).

Barcelona sports director Txiki Begiristain has yesterday held another meeting with Iván Corretja, the agent of Xavi.

The negotiations are advancing in the right direction but, although both parties are willing to close a deal, there are still important differences. The offer of Barcelona wouldn't be enough for the player. There would be different opinions about the real status of the Catalan midfielder within the Barcelona squad.

Barcelona wants to close the renewals of Xavi and Busquets as soon as possible and preferably in the coming days, so the club can then start working on the cases of Márquez, Puyol and Eto'o.

Read more:
Juventus interested in Xavi for next season
Xavi renewal talks still going on
Xavi could be offered contract for life

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Pretty sure both Xavi and Busquets will renew before the end of the year.

Anonymous said...

If the rumors that Xavi only wants tier 2 money (which is what Iniesta/Puyol/Eto'o make, ~€5m/year) are true, then there shouldn't even be any negotiation. Xavi is one player that if lost the fans will never forgive management for.

However it sounds more like Xavi wants Messi/Henry money, which is why there might be a stall.

Again, if the former was true then there's no reason for them to try and save a few hundred thousand a year, considering how underpaid Xavi has been up to this point.

Anonymous said...

If we would pay Henry Tier 2 (which still would be very well paid for what he's bringing on the pitch), there wouldn't be a problem to pay Xavi Tier 1.

Although I think Tier 2 would do for Xavi. Messi should be the only one in Tier 1. With Eto'o maybe in between 1 and 2.

AydinK-1 said...

I think that Xavi deserves to be among top 5 earners because he is Barca legend and one of the best central mid. in the world.
You just cant let him go.

Mes que un Club!!!

Anonymous said...

Found some 2007-2008 salaries for reference. Figures are per month & per year. Messi now makes slightly more than Henry.

Tier 1A
Ronaldinho Gaucho FC Barcelona 710,000 8,520,000
Thierry Henry FC Barcelona 650,000 7,800,000

Tier 1B
Samuel Eto o FC Barcelona 415,000 4,980,000
Charles Puyol FC Barcelona 415,000 4,980,000
Andres Iniesta FC Barcelona 415,000 4,980,000

Deco FC Barcelona 375,000 4,500,000
Gianluca Zambrotta FC Barcelona 375,000 4,500,000
Lilian Thuram FC Barcelona 375,000 4,500,000

Eidur Gudjohnsen FC Barcelona 330,000 3,960,000

Keep in mind that what a player makes sometimes depend very little on how good he is. But rather on name recognition, marketability, salary expectations/demands. For example Kaka makes 9 million/year or about 200,000/week but every other top player on AC Milan including Pirlo, Nesta, Inzaghi, Seedorf, Ronaldo all made 4 million/year or 80,000/week.

The nightmare with Saviola can be almost completely attributed to his monstrous 125,000/week salary that he received right from the start. It made him virtually unmovable. He cost us an extra 25 million euros in salaries above and beyond his transfer fee. I believe it's also the main factor as to why his career has derailed. He's never going to receive a pay packet that matches his own expectations from any team willing to give him a first XI place. However a club like Madrid can offer him a bit more for bench depth because they don't have to pay a transfer fee for him. Madrid also has the added motivation of signing a Barcelona player so they can rub Barcelona's noses in it.

Back to Xavi, my guess is that since the club wants to offer a so called 'lifetime' deal, up to 2014. They're weary of offering him the full 100,000/week packet because while he's absolutely worth every penny right now. In the last 2 years of his contract when he's 33 or 34, maybe 5 million/year is a bit too much for experience off the bench, club legend or not. This kind of fiscal responsibility is good though, it'll ensure we'll never fall into financial crisis like in the Gaspart era.

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