Xavi was inspired to go into coaching after talking to Barcelona hero Johan Cruyff... but don't expect him to be like Pep Guardiola

It began, as anything good around that club usually does, with Johan Cruyff. His Foundation, author of so much good, had raised sufficient money to invest in a ‘Cruyff Court’ — the all-weather, five-a-side pitch which, for some time, he’s been gifting to local communities around the world (187 total, nine in Spain) so that young kids continue to have a space in which to enjoy the beautiful game. This one, however, was a story close to my affection. When I talked to Xavi during the process of writing ‘Barca: The Making Of The Greatest Team In The World’, it was horrible to discover that the Plaza del Progreso, in Terrassa, the town outside Barcelona where he grew up, now had a sign reading: ‘Fútbol Prohibido’.

In a Canal+ interview, Xavi emphasised: ‘They’ve made it very nice now, very modern, but they’ve screwed it up for kids — no chance of playing football there now.’ One of the principal architects of Spain reaching its apogee could look at the very place where he first learned to perfect his treatment of the ball and find that his successors were banned from doing the same. The very kids who would be inspired by Barcelona’s glorious footballing symphonies, by Spain lifting the World Cup. Cruyff was paying attention. So one day in October, he and Xavi inaugurated the pitch thanks to €30,000 (£23,478) from La Caixa, the bank which sponsored them in the project. The master and maestro then got to talking. ‘Cruyff reminded me that the most beautiful thing in our lives was playing,’ said the 34-year-old.

‘But the closest feeling to replicating that is to coach. I love to wake up sure in the knowledge that I’m going to smell the grass of a pitch and to hear the smack of a boot hitting a ball. That is my life and I know I want to stay in football.’ Not unlike his movement on and off the ball during his prime, Xavi has been hard to pin down. Sometimes he will say he is going to coach, or manage, and sometimes he’s appalled by the stress, the criticism, the politics. However, the Cruyff conversation seems to have made the idea gel. After Spain’s disastrous World Cup, the Catalan had made up his mind to join David Villa and Frank Lampard in signing for New York City.

But, talking to new Barca coach Luis Enrique, he was given a direct message. One he liked. ‘If you stay, and you are in good enough form, you’ll play. If not, you won’t.’ No hidden agenda, no edict to push the ageing high-earner off the wage bill. He stayed. Thus far, he’s played 17 times and been amongst Barca’s best performers. The intense style of ‘Lucho’ Enrique has invigorated him, re-introduced subtle flavours of the Pep Guardiola era. And it’s to Guardiola, unfortunately, that people’s minds turn when the prospect of Xavi one day taking over at the Nou Camp is raised. But, caution. As a player Xavi was slotted straight into the same pivot position which Guardiola (now Sergio Busquets) occupied. It wasn’t right for him and a handful of years were ‘wasted’ there until Frank Rijkaard pushed him into attacking midfield — much to Xavi’s concern and doubt. Equally, as a coach, Xavi will not replicate Guardiola. The two men are very different in nature. By 21, Guardiola was a boss in the dressing room and on the pitch. Tough, pragmatic, streetwise — born to lead. Xavi became that, but it took him much more time. He’s a generous, quick-to-share, quick-to-smile guy — but he’ll wound more easily, ‘feel’ more than the supremely-driven Guardiola. ‘At Barca, “pretty good” is worth nothing,’ Xavi says. ‘I’m hugely demanding of myself and, indeed, of friends and family. Sometimes I realise it’s too much. But so much has been demanded of me all my life and that has conditioned me to expect that from others. ‘If I get a “well done” rather than an “excellent”, I go home troubled.’ Guardiola is different. Winning is everything, excellence is a means to that end. Perhaps it sounds a minor difference, but it will count when, in due course, Xavi takes charge of a team. Potentially Barca.