The soap opera is coming to an end although there always seems to be one more twist to complicate things.
In this case, Barcelona's financial problems, which were known long before their pursuit of Xavi Hernandez, has held up the official announcement.
Al Sadd played their hand on Friday morning by saying they had agreed to let Xavi return to Barça and that the Catalan club would pay his release clause.
Barcelona denied that was the case. In difficult circumstances, things were complicated because Barça cannot pay the €5m due to LaLiga's fair play rules, per club sources.
They have had to use their imagination, therefore, and in the end the club and Xavi will pay half each.