Revealed: How Barcelona 'toxicity' influenced Xavi's decision to depart La Liga giants at the end of the season

The claims of toxicity come from The Athletic, whose sources claim that the reason for Xavi's surprise decision came from him being fed up and stressed with the situation around him. This also reportedly affected his family and personal life. He had also decided to announce his decision after the loss against Villarreal as he wanted the club and the players to go into the crucial next few weeks without being surrounded by rumours and accusations by the media.

A source told The Athletic, "Xavi slept better tonight than he had in a long time", a testament to how stressed the former World Cup winner must have been regarding the job at the helm of Barcelona.

Within the last 20 days, Barcelona have lost out on two trophies: The Supercopa de Espana and the Copa del Rey. Their loss against Villarreal all but ended their hopes of striking back in the race for La Liga as they now sit 10 points off first-placed Real Madrid.

As per Mundo Deportivo, Barcelona have so far conceded 19 goals in January, which is already the most number of goals the side has conceded in a single month. The previous worst was 18 which the club conceded in March 1930.

Xavi has been hoping that his announcement will raise the levels shown by his side in recent days. He has also reported that no matter how well the season goes from here on, he will not reverse his decision to leave the club.