Xavi puts three Barcelona stars ‘up for sale’ after woeful Champions League exit

Barcelona manager Xavi is planning to clear the decks at the Nou Camp after reportedly putting three stars on the transfer list in the wake of their embarrassing Champions League exit.

The Catalan giants were dumped out of Europe's top-tier competition on Wednesday after a woeful 3-0 defeat at Bayern Munich.

It is the first time since the 2003-04 season when they didn't qualify for the Champions League at all, that Barcelona have failed to make it to the knockout stages of the competition.

Xavi's side have also struggled to hit the ground running domestically and find themselves seventh in La Liga – 16 points adrift of league leaders Real Madrid.

Spanish journalist Gerard Romero claims the new boss has already lost patience with some of his squad and is preparing to make big changes at the club.

According to Romero, Frenkie de Jong, Marc-Andre ter Stegen and Sergino Dest are all set to be axed as Xavi looks to rebuild the beleaguered Blaugrana.

Goalkeeper Ter Stegen has faced criticism for a number of below-par performance this season, while Dutch protegee De Jong has failed to justify the £65million Barca spent on him from Ajax in 2019.

Who does Xavi need to get rid of first at Barcelona? Let us know in the comments section.

Dest is also said to be unhappy amid rumours of him looking to join Bayern Munich.

Speaking after the defeat at the Allianz Arena, Xavi made no attempt to hide his disappointment but did offer some hope for fans going forward.

"Bayern dominated us," he began. "We always want to dominate but it was the opposite here. We must demand more. We're Barca.

"This must be a point of inflection to change the dynamic and many more things.

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"This is the Champions League, but this is also our reality. It's the situation we're in.

"I'm angry. This is the reality and it p***** me off. We have to tackle it face on. There's nothing else for it.

"A new era starts today. We start from zero.

"Our objective is the Champions League, not the Europa League, but that is our reality now and we have to try and win it."

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