Barcelona president confirms Xavi renewal close

Asked about the rumours that an agreement has been reached on the contract renewal of Barcelona attacking midfielder and Spanish international Xavi (28) (read more here), Barcelona president Joan Laporta has confirmed to journalists yesterday that the deal will be announced soon:

"When Txiki returns to Barcelona, we'll finalize the last details so we can close the renewal of Xavi. It's a player of the youth academy who has been playing here his whole life and we'll do the effort that is needed. I hope that we can soon announce the deal, since this is what we all want and what is good for both the club and the player."

It's generally accepted that Barcelona will make the renewal public once Barcelona sports director Txiki Begiristain, who had to fly to Japan to stand by his sick brother, will be back in Barcelona. Catalan sports paper El Mundo Deportivo claims that Begiristain could return at the end of the coming week and that the deal will be wrapped up, signed and officially announced on Thursday or Friday.

Read more:
Agreement on Xavi renewal until 2014
Xavi: "I want to stay at the club of my life"
Xavi is top target for Manchester United