Xavi Hernandez reportedly set to be sacked by Barcelona

There simply never seems to be a calm week at Barcelona.

After only a few weeks of confirming that Xavi Hernandez would return next season, the club is reportedly now ready to sack Xavi following his words during his press conference ahead of the 2-0 win over Almeria.

His words, lamenting Barcelona's financial situation and all but lowering expectations next season, upset president Joan Laporta.

"We are going to try to compete," Xavi said. "The situation is difficult financially. It has nothing to do with what used to happen 25 years ago, when the coach came and said 'I like this player, this one and this one.'

"It doesn't work like that anymoe. The supporters need to understand the situation. As the coach, I understand what's happening and that's how we're going to manage things."

Understandably, Laporta would be upset by those comments given they've brought Xavi a number of his request, pulling levers to do so. The only position they didn't properly fill -- and it turned out to be a significant one -- was the pivot where Oriol Romeu hasn't worked out.

Aside from that, they brought reinforcements in all three areas of the pitch, spending a significant amount on Jules Kounde, Raphinha and Robert Lewandowski.

The first sign of a break in the marriage was when Deco and Laporta didn't travel with the team to Almeria. Then rumors started to filter about a rift between the manager and the president. Those rumors persisted even after the win which all but assured Barcelona would finish in second place in LaLiga.

At the time of this writing, no one from the club has informed Xavi he's going to be fired though all reports are pointing to it only being a matter of time.

The same candidates as before have once again emerged as potential replacementes. Hansi Flick, Rafael Marquez, Sérgio Conceição and Thomas Tuchel, who isn't going to return to Bayern Munich after all, have all been linked.

In a disappointing season, where the team has regressed in nearly every facet, Xavi may end up being fired for something he said, regardless of whether he is right or not, instead of the results on the pitch.