Worth of Xavi Hernandez

Xavi Hernandez

Xavi Hernandez will put his signature on the new contract with Barca. Speculations had mounted during the last summer, when the vice-captain of Barca’s team didn’t extend his loyalty with Catalan club. Now everything is clear and he will be at Camp Nou till 2014, when he will retire. He said that it was a  dream come true to finish his career in the team where he has started. Huge offers from the biggest European clubs haven’t made him hesitant. He was determined to stay in Barca.

But, what was the problem with a new contract? Some rumors talk about his €7 million-per-year salary, but he wanted €9 million, in order to be the second highest paid player at the club behind, one and only, Lionel Messi. However, Xavi will spend another six years at Camp Nou and it is hard to imagine him in some other jersey.

In this year’s “Golden Ball” award contest he was fifth, just behind Cristiano Ronaldo, his team mate Messi, his Spain team mate Torres and Iker Cassilas. But, he was the best player of EURO 2008. and the most important player in Aragones’ squad. Experienced coach had given extra space to him and Xavi knew how to use it. His fantastic goal in the semi-final against Russia when he broke the deadlock and the great assist to Torres in the final, had ended the long Spanish international trophy drought. His stats from Euro 2008 left me without breath. In all five matches, on the one of the toughest tournaments in the World, he managed to have 95% completed passes . It means 19 out of 20.

On the other hand, all the honors go to the Cristiano Ronaldo these days. He is magnificent with the ball, he can do things which other players could only dream about, but in my opinion his worth for the team isn’t on the same level as Xavi’s. He doesn’t do a lot of hard work in defence and he doesn’t work for other players in the team. He isn’t a team player, like Spaniard is. If I were a coach of some big European club and in position to choose between these two players, my choice would be, for sure, Xavi Hernandez. Maybe his salary is enormous, but he deserves every cent .

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