Barcelona president Joan Laporta has refused to confirm Xavi Hernandez will replace Ronald Koeman but said he has “very good references” about the Spaniard’s credentials as a coach and “knows very well what he thinks of the team”.

Laporta’s enthusiastic assessment of Barcelona’s legendary former midfielder will be taken as a strong indication he is their preferred successor to Koeman, who was sacked on Wednesday night.

“He is in a very interesting process,” said Laporta of Xavi, who has been in charge of Al Sadd in Qatar since 2019. 

“He is developing very well and I have very good references about him, from people close to him and from people that know him better than me.”

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