FC Barcelona still have the most decisive shift of the current campaign ahead of them, but Xavi Hernandez’s announcement that he will step down from his duties at the Catalan club at the end of the season has significantly dampened the moods.
There is no doubt that this decision of Xavi will have a lot of implications for the club going forward, but one player who will be most drastically affected by this state of affairs is the first Barcelona captain, Sergi Roberto.
This is clear from a report from Alex Pintanel (h/t Barca Times), who claims that the Barcelona sports management has no intention of offering a renewal to Sergi Roberto, whose current contract ends at the end of this season. Deco will inform the Barcelona higher-ups of this decision in the coming days.
Xavi had asked the club to give a renewal to Roberto before Christmas, but the situation has taken a complete turn now. However, the technical staff is still very happy with Roberto, and sees him as an ideal professional, always involved with the team, and especially encouraging for the youngsters.
Roberto also shares a close bond with Xavi, and he was one of the players who was teary-eyed when the Barcelona head coach announced his decision to leave the club. Roberto also apologized to Xavi for the team’s poor performances, and motivated the team to end the season in the strongest way possible.
Furthermore, Roberto also asked Xavi if he can reverse his decision in any way, but the former midfielder’s decision has been made.
Thus, it looks extremely likely that Roberto will accompany Xavi to leave the club, and put an end to his 14-year-long career at Barcelona. He made his debut under Pep Guardiola when he was only 18 years old in 2010, but his most memorable night would surely be the remontada against PSG.
