Barcelona's new director of football Deco has confirmed that the club's head coach Xavi is close to penning a new contract at Camp Nou.

The 43-year-old's existing deal with the Catalan giants is due to expire next June, but a recent report claimed that an extension had been agreed between the two parties.

Barcelona are thought to be planning to hand Xavi a contract until June 2025, and Deco has suggested that an announcement will arrive in the near future.

"He has earned the right to renew," Mundo Deportivo quotes Deco as saying. "When it's [official], you'll know. We are happy with him, not just because of the figure of Xavi, but because of Xavi the coach.

"He happens to be one of the best players in the club's history, but he is proving himself to be a great coach with what he has done. I am sure we will reach an agreement."

Xavi led Barcelona to a La Liga and Spanish Super Cup double last season, but the team failed to progress past the group stage of the Champions League for a second straight campaign.

The Catalan outfit have made a solid start to this term, meanwhile, picking up 10 points from their opening four matches, which has left them in third position in the table.

Xavi returned to Barcelona as head coach in November 2021 after a period both as a player and manager with Qatari outfit Al-Sadd.

"As a player, I dreamed of being at Barca and I achieved it. Now I'm back and it's very special. These years I have built a history that I now leave behind, it's a very big responsibility to be here," Deco said when commenting on his new role at Barcelona.

"The objectives are to win. We wanted to have a competitive and balanced squad. The great objective is to win, there is no other.

"My football idea has always been the profile of Barça; play with possession. Have high-level players, with different abilities. When I go to watch a match I like to see high-level players.

"Everything is a phase of transition. Barca are a winning team and has had the best years of the club after my departure. It has been a generation that has been marked as a team.

"Transitions are always difficult, teams are not eternal. I think the transition was done well. It took us a while to win, but we are on the right path."

Deco famously represented Barcelona as a player between 2004 and 2008, making 161 appearances in all competitions, winning two La Liga titles, two Spanish Super Cups and the Champions League. body check tags ::