BARCELONA have appointed Sergi Barjuan as interim manager following Ronald Koeman's sacking – but the club still want Xavi.

Koeman was sacked on Wednesday night following the horror defeat to Rayo Vallecano which left them NINTH in LaLiga.

Nou Camp legend Xavi is set to take over permanently once Barcelona strike a deal with Al-Sadd.

But for now, B team boss Barjuan will take charge on an interim basis.

On Thursday, a club statement read: "Barcelona hereby announces that Sergi Barjuan, the current coach of Barca B, shall be taking provisional charge of the technical management of the senior squad.

"His interim position as first team head coach shall end as soon as the club has hired full-time head coach to replace the dismissed Ronald Koeman."

Barjuan spent 14 years at Barcelona, working his way through the youth ranks, the C and B teams before cracking the first-team in 1993.

He would go on to play 382 times for the club before finishing his career at Atletico Madrid.

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Barjuan managed Barcelona's youth teams between 2009 and 2011, before taking over the first-teams of Recreativo, Almeria and Mallorca.

The 56-cap ex-Spain star then took charge of Chinese side Zhejiang Greentown between 2017 and 2019, before heading back to Barca to run the B team.

Xavi is believed to be on the verge of signing for Barcelona in the coming days.

The club legend is comfortably the frontrunner for the job – with the man himself recently admitting he was finally ready to return having turned down the job before Koeman was appointed.

Spanish outlet Sport are reporting that he has already reached an agreement with his former side.

Barcelona are now working on the termination of his contract at Al-Sadd, something which would cost them around £840,000.

Xavi has enjoyed a sensational start to the season with the Middle Eastern team.

Al-Sadd have won all seven of their league games this term en route to the top of the table.

Moreover, Xavi has been praised for implementing Barca's famous tiki-taka style to great effect – something Nou Camp fans have been crying out for.

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