The All India Football Federation was taken aback after they spotted an unusual and unexpected name among the 170-odd applicants for the position of the Indian men’s team coach. Even as Liverpool legend Robbie Fowler was the star attraction, now it was time for Spanish football coach Xavi Hernandez, according to a report in The Times of India. Besides Fowler and Hernandez, there were the familiar names like former coach Stephen Constantine, Steve Kean, Khalid Jamil, Kibu Vicuna and Eelco Schattorie, whose work is known in India. Marked in green, Xavi, someone who made over 700 appearances for Barcelona, was shown to have sent the application from his own email ID. “It’s correct that Xavi’s name was there. The application was emailed to the AIFF,” national team director Subrata Paul told The Times of India. According to the report, the technical committee didn’t consider Xavi for the final shortlist because of the high financial cost. As footballer, he enjoyed a brilliant career, winning the World Cup in 2010 and two Euros. “Even if Xavi was genuinely interested in Indian football and could be convinced to take up the job, we would need a lot of money,” a member of the technical committee was quoted as saying. In a previous interview with The Athletic, Xavi said that he “sometimes (follows) the Indian League because many Spanish coaches are there.” The technical committee has recommended three names to the AIFF executive committee to replace Manolo Marquez, who quit earlier this month. The shortlist was finalised by the technical committee chaired by former India skipper IM Vijayan. Xavi was head coach at Al Sadd before taking over at Barcelona four years back and a return to Qatar appears to be on the cards. As per local newspaper Al Raya, Xavi is negotiating a possible incorporation as the national team’s next coach.