BARCELONA unveiled Xavi Hernandez as their new head coach Monday.

Following a near-two year pursuit, the club legend — who came through the La Masia academy to become its second all-time appearances leader after Lionel Messi while winning the Champions League four times — will get his elite coaching career underway in the derby against Espanyol on Nov. 20.

Xavi was landed Friday after a delegation minus president Joan Laporta headed to Doha to negotiate his exit from former employers Al-Sadd.

Playing hardball, the Qataris refused to let their man go until a US$5.8 million release clause had been agreed, which will apparently be paid half each by the Catalans and the 41-year-old, who has also taken a considerable paycut.

Once this deal had been hashed out, the signing on a two-and-a-half year deal until June 2024 was announced in the early hours of Saturday.

Penning his contract with Laporta in front of them Monday, and posing with a Blaugrana jersey also bearing his name, he then said a few words on-pitch before conducting a press conference with his new boss by his side.

Barca is currently ninth in La Liga, 11 points behind league leader Real Sociedad and 10 behind eternal rival Real Madrid, with injuries to key players not helping dressing room confidence.

“My idea is to help the players. I understand that Barca is difficult,” said Xavi, who said the “psychological issue is very hard and we are going to help them on a personal level. It is not about being tough. It’s about helping and working as a team,” he added.

However, the former player also said he would be demanding hard-work from his squad. “Barca is about winning. We have to work very hard and demand a lot of ourselves to get results.”

Although he insisted that it was a “long-term” project, Xavi said he would start on his plans immediately. “My idea is to help to recover players and form a team, so that we are a family and all rowing in the same direction. We want people to take on the ideas quickly so we can compete with Espanyol,” which will be Barca’s first rival after the international break.

He also discussed his style of play, saying it would look to recapture some of Barca’s traditional virtues.

(SD-Agencies)