Sergi Roberto the first casualty of Xavi Hernandez's pending departure

Barcelona is still feeling the effects from Xavi Hernandez's decision to leave the club at the end of the season. An announcement the soon-to-be former Catalan manager gave after the 5-3 loss to Villarreal.

One of the side effects of Xavi's decision to leave is the long list of managers rumored to be taking over. Another one is the future of certain players as some of them were petitions from Xavi.

The first casualty appears to be Sergi Roberto.

The Barcelona captain signed a one-year extension last season and the club appeared to be on the fence to whether offer another extension or not.

According to Diario AS' Javi Miguel, the club is not thinking about offering Sergi Roberto a new contract. It is important to remember that one of Sergi Roberto's biggest backers was Xavi himself. With Xavi gone at the end of the season, it more or less sealed Roberto's fate.

Despite being the captain, Sergi Roberto has not featured too often. At the beginning of the season, there were at least four midfielders ahead of him: Frenkie de Jong, Pedri, Gavi and Ilkay Gundogan.

With the injuries to Pedri and Gavi, as well as the decline of Oriol Romeu, Sergi Roberto has seen more playing time recently. But he's also dealt with his own injuries this season.

While he's had his spurts, the last time he was on the pitch, he lost the ball in the match against Athletic Bilbao that led to the third goal in extra time.

Sergi Roberto has often been pointed at as what's wrong with Barcelona. It's been more to do in the years where he's been a starter despite it being evident he was not up to the task.

Given Barcelona need to be diligent with who they sign with their limited resources, it makes sense to cut ties with the veteran midfielder. He's one of the last of the old guard and one of the last players in the squad to have won a Champions League.