Barcelona is about to make one of its greatest ever players its manager - a risky move that could backfire spectacularly and ruin his legacy

• FC Barcelona is set to name Xavi Hernandez, one of its greatest ever players, as its new manager.
• Appointing ex-stars is a risky move that has paid off for few in recent years, however.

FC Barcelona is set to name former player Xavi Hernandez as its new manager following the sacking of Ronald Koeman, according to ESPN.

The Spaniard is Barcelona's second highest ever appearance maker behind only Lionel Messi and is widely considered to be one of the club's greatest ever players.

Currently the manager of Al Sadd in Qatar, ESPN reports that Barcelona vice president Rafael Yuste and director of football Mateu Alemany flew out to Hernandez after Barca's Tuesday Champions League win over Dynamo Kiev to finalize an agreement.

The 41-year-old is expected to be named as Koeman's successor by the end of the week.

Xavi will be expected to breathe new life into a Barcelona squad that has struggled since the departure of Ernesto Valverde.

Valverde was replaced by Quique Setien as manager in January 2020, however the Spaniard lasted just 25 matches before being sacked and replaced by Koeman.

Koeman oversaw a difficult period at the Camp Nou, with the club's finances meaning the Dutchman was left to watch on as Lionel Messi left the club as a free agent, while he was also unable to make any significant signings.

He had lost 16 of his 67 matches in charge, including four of the last six, when he was fired last week.

Brilliant ex-players don't always make brilliant managers

In the past, appointing former star players seemed to work brilliantly for soccer clubs.

Liverpool great Kenny Dalglish guided the English side to three league titles as boss, while Bob Paisley, another Reds legend, oversaw the most successful period in the club's history between 1974 and 1983.

Barcelona has also enjoyed similar success with appointing a club legend as its boss. Johan Cruyff won four La Liga titles and the Champions League as Barca boss, and is credited with shaping the club's modern style of play and philosophy.

More recently, Pep Guardiola went from a combative Barcelona midfielder to one of the most revered coaches in club history, winning La Liga three times and the Champions League twice in just four years between 2008 and 2012.

Guardiola, however, is probably the last example of a club legend turning into a dominant coach.

With the game becoming more complex than ever before and coaching becoming an art form in its own right, naming an ex-star as boss is a gamble that has often backfired.

Frank Lampard lasted just a season-and-a-half in charge of his former club Chelsea before being given the axe after a poor run of form, while Juventus legend Andrea Pirlo managed to help the club drop the Serie A title for the first time in a decade.

Current Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, a cult hero at Old Trafford, is also being heavily criticized for the way is currently running his former club, which sits fifth in the Premier League table and is scraping results, mostly courtesy of Cristiano Ronaldo.

All of these coaches have to some extent tarnished their reputations with their clubs. While their playing heroics will always be rememebered by fans, it is hard to maintain a strong legacy at a club when you have been unceremoniously fired for a lack of managerial success.

If he is not careful, Xavi could go the same way.

Looking at the greatest managers in modern soccer history - Sir Alex Ferguson, Arsene Wenger, Jose Mourinho, Carlo Ancelotti, and Jurgen Klopp - most weren't outstanding players, or even players at all, like Xavi.

Guardiola is perhaps the only exception.

John Neal, director of the Sport Business Initiative at Ashridge Business School in the United Kingdom, told the Wall Street Journal that is often unspectacular players who make the best coaches because "they gain the respect of players not by their past sporting capability, but by their intellect."

Dubbed a "football genius" by FourFourTwo - Xavi could buck the trend, or he could leave his reputation at the club where he spent his whole playing career, in tatters.