Having emerged as the Champions of Spain this season, FC Barcelona are already looking forward to the upcoming summer transfer window. A number of operations are already in progress that are expected to culminate in this window.
One surprising player that the club has been associated with in the last few days is Bayern Munich’s Joshua Kimmich. The versatile German midfielder has been a fixed starter for the German powerhouse for a number of seasons now and has established himself as one of the best in the game.
While attracting him from his current club would definitely be a challenge for Barcelona, there is some history between Xavi and the player that can come to La Blaugrana’s advantage in this operation.
As reported by Mundo Deportivo, Xavi has liked the player for a long time now. Xavi himself opened up on his admiration for Kimmich in 2019, when Bayern had a preseason training scheduled in Doha.
Xavi himself declared that he had been a fan of Kimmich since he talked with Pep Guardiola, who was managing Bayern Munich at that time. Guardiola was particularly impressed with Kimmich’s ability to play anywhere on the pitch, and Xavi has been monitoring the German’s career since then.
Xavi also praised the player at that time, and sent him a message through a German newspaper that he would be a perfect player for FC Barcelona.
The admiration between Xavi and Kimmich has also been mutual, with the German also expressing his high regard for the current FC Barcelona coach. Kimmich has also been on record with statements that he considers Xavi to be his role model.
Thus, the admiration between Kimmich and Xavi has been well-publicized and there for everyone to see. This mutual respect can be one of the factors facilitating Kimmich’s move to Barcelona, in what is virtually an impossible operation at this point in time.
