The reasons why Xavi is only renewing his contract at Barça by one year

Xavi Hernandez is not popular in the Spanish capital. He has been disparagingly nicknamed "the gardener" in Madrid ever since that heavenly Champions League semi-final against Mourinho's Real Madrid -- Pep's "fucking master", with Leo Messi's brace -- in which the then-grandmaster Xavi criticised the length of the Bernabéu grass.

Deep down, what oozes out of them is an eternal hatred for how Xavi desecrated, time and time again, for almost a decade, the white temple.

In contrast to the doubts that Xavi generates in part of the Culé environment, in Madrid there is dread that the coach could remain on the bench for many more years. For that reason, it has been interpreted that Xavi is going to renew only until 2025 as a threat to his continuity in the future. Not so. 

Regardless of whether or not the club has doubts about the coach, signing until 2026 was never a serious option for two reasons that brought the parties into agreement: it suits Barça well for one more year due to the prudence recommended by the club's delicate financial fair play situation; and it also suits Xavi because the last thing he wants to do is to mortgage the club's future. 

If the relationship flows, it will be extended again. If it goes wrong, it won't. Xavi has always said: he will never be a problem.