(MENAFN- Arab Times) Barcelona midfielder Xavi will announce on Thursday that he is leaving the club he joined as an 11-year-old to sign a lucrative three-year deal with Qatari side Al Sadd, his agent told Reuters on Wednesday.
Now 35 and Barca's appearance record holder and club captain, Xavi is set to follow in the footsteps of former Spain team mate Raul, who played for Al Sadd between 2012-14.
Xavi would also work with Qatar's Aspire Academy, become an ambassador for the 2022 World Cup to be held in the Gulf state, one of Barca's main sponsors, and aim to start his coaching qualifications, his agent, Ivan Corretja, said.
Corretja declined to comment on media reports Xavi will earn 10 million euros ($11.1 million) a season.
Barca said on Wednesday Xavi would hold a news conference at about 1030 GMT after Thursday's training session.
After joining the Catalan giants in 1991, Xavi graduated from the club's academy to the first team in 1998.
One of the most decorated footballers of all time, he defined Barca and Spain's spectacularly successful possession-based playing style.
He represented La Roja 133 times, a record for an outfield player, and was a key figure in Spain's glittering run when they won the 2010 World Cup and the 2008 and 2012 European Championships.
With Barca, Xavi has won three Champions League crowns, eight La Liga titles and a host of other trophies but has had limited playing time this season under coach Luis Enrique.
He is set to receive a rousing send-off at the Nou Camp when Barca, who wrapped up their latest La Liga title last weekend, host Deportivo La Coruna for their final match of the campaign on Saturday.
He could still win another two trophies, with Barca through to the Champions League final to play Juventus on June 6, a week after they play Athletic Bilbao in the King's Cup final.
Xavi made his debut for Spain in a friendly against the Netherlands in November 2000.
He played in four World Cups and three European Championships and won 100 of his 133 matches for the Iberian nation, controlling play from a central position, regularly providing assists and also scoring the occasional goal.
His last appearance for Spain was a bitter 5-1 reverse to the Netherlands in their opening Group B match at the World Cup finals in Brazil in June.
Real Madrid goalkeeper and captain Iker Casillas turned 34 on Wednesday with uncertainty still clouding his future with the European champions and Real reportedly lining up David De Gea as his replacement.
Casillas has been blamed by some fans for Real's woes this season, when they failed to win any of the three major trophies, while arch rivals Barcelona are on the verge of a treble of Champions League and Spanish league and Cup titles.
The Spain international has suggested he wants to see out his contract, which runs until the end of the 2016-17 season, but he has been visibly irritated by his treatment at the Bernabeu in recent weeks.
While some sections of fans clearly back him, others have roundly whistled him, along with coach Carlo Ancelotti and Wales winger Gareth Bale.
Madrid-based sports dailies Marca and As both reported on Wednesday that Real had let Casillas know the club wants him to stay on next season.
That did not mean, however, that Real would abandon their efforts to lure the 24-year-old De Gea, second choice for Spain behind Casillas, from Manchester United in the close season, they added.
If De Gea does move back to Spain, Costa Rica keeper Keylor Navas, who joined Real after shining at last year's World Cup finals in Brazil, would look to move on, reports said.
Casillas made his first-team debut for Real in September 1999 and has made 724 appearances in 16 seasons, winning a host of trophies including three Champions League crowns and five La Liga titles.
Last season's Spanish champions Atletico Madrid will be ready to pounce again if wealthy heavyweights Barcelona and Real Madrid show any more signs of weakness, according to coach Diego Simeone.
Barca clinched the La Liga title on Sunday with a 1-0 win at Atletico, exactly a year after Simeone's side pipped them to the Spanish league trophy, their first in 18 years, with a 1-1 draw at the Nou Camp.
Atletico were able to capitalise on Barca and Real's inconsistency in 2013-14 but with one game remaining this term, are left fighting for third place and a berth in the Champions League group stage.
Atletico have 77 points in third, three ahead of fourth-placed Valencia, with Sevilla a point further adrift in fifth.
Simeone's men face a tricky final match on Saturday at Granada, who are 16th and fighting for the top-flight survival.
"We have to prepare as a team for when Real Madrid and Barcelona are not so attentive," Simeone told Spanish radio station Onda Cero in a late-night interview on Tuesday.
"Last year, they were not so focused and we were able to get in the mix but Valencia and Sevilla are also aware of this and that strengthens the league," the Argentine added.
"To become champions again we have to work to finish second, third and when they (Real and Barca) get distracted win the title again."
Once Barca's prolific Argentina forward Lionel Messi, who scored the winner on Sunday, retired, Atletico would have an even better chance, he joked.
Simeone has long maintained that Atletico had little chance of defending their title given the gulf in resources compared to Real and Barca, insisting third place was a more realistic target.
Despite losing top scorer Diego Costa to Chelsea, Atletico have still put together an impressive season, twice beating Real in La Liga, including a 4-0 drubbing of their neighbours at the Calderon in February.
However, they lost both La Liga matches against Barca, were eliminated by the Catalan giants from the King's Cup and knocked out of the Champions League by Real in the quarter-finals.
"When we said that our rivals were Sevilla and Valencia we were right," Simeone said. "Until we know whether we have finished third we cannot give ourselves a mark for the season."
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