Santi Cazorla believes Xavi is ready to take over Barcelona

Santi Cazorla

has established his name as one of the best creative players in Spanish football.

He made a shocking decision when he chose to leave

to join

Xavi

in Qatar with

.

Speaking in an interview with Diario AS, Cazorla talked highly about Xavi's skills as a coach and revealed that he felt his friend is suitable to take over Barcelona.

“When he retired he did the course, he started to like it and then he decided,”

Cazorla said of Xavi

. “He’s been an example for me in that regard, the fact he waited to decide. Once I retire I want to have the same values. He’s perfectly qualified to be a coach. You could say he could coach Barcelona tomorrow.

“I think he’s prepared. He knows the players well and he knows how to treat them. He’s been playing until recently and knows how to squeeze the most out of them, although it doesn’t matter how you play if you don’t win.”

 “He prefers to take risks, come out from behind with the ball and he instills that way of seeing football in us. He was a leader as a player as well as a coach, and he gets his message across, which is the most difficult thing. If the coach can’t get his message across in the dressing room it’s very difficult for the results.”’

Xavi has been seen as a future Pep Guardiola-like character in Barcelona, someone who could join the club and reestablish the identity that the legendary Catalan had instilled in his charges in the Camp Nou dugout.

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