Barcelona legend Xavi Hernandez has decided to turn down the opportunity to immediately replace Ernesto Valverde as the club's head coach, sources have told ESPN.

After two days of phone calls and meetings, the Al Sadd manager told Barca sporting director Eric Abidal and CEO Oscar Grau that he was open to the possibility of joining the club next season.

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Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu will be busy Monday, with a long-overdue meeting with the club's board in the afternoon, when he will discuss everything that took place over the past few days.

Sources told ESPN that Valverde's job was not in immediate danger after the SuperCopa exit at the hands of Atletico Madrid, but Barca changed their minds and sent Abidal and Grau to Qatar, where they met with Xavi on three occasions and held a meeting with the injured Ousmane Dembele.

Xavi, who has been linked with the Barca job ever since he stopped playing for the club, prefers to start the new project from scratch and not go behind Valverde's back, sources said. On Saturday, Xavi said he respected Valverde a lot.

Valverde is expected to take training Monday morning with his squad in preparation for the team's La Liga match against Granada at Camp Nou next weekend.