Barcelona captain Lionel Messi is unhappy with the club’s overall performance of late and wants one of their most crucial members to be kicked out.
Barcelona continued to put pressure on league leaders Real Madrid thanks to their 2-1 win over Levante on Sunday evening. Ansu Fati was on target twice in as many minutes as a rather unconvincing side claimed three points. It’s fair to say that Fati and Messi were the only consistent players throughout the match, and the alarm bells are still ringing in the Camp Nou.
Luis Suarez’s injury has seen the Blaugrana struggle for goals as Antoine Griezmann has been unable to deliver, and unfortunately that is likely to be the case for the next three months as the Uruguay international continues his recovery. With that said, the Catalans were tipped to sign a short-term striker in the January window but to no avail.
Diario GOL has reported that Lionel Messi has now asked the club’s board to get rid of Eric Abidal from his position as the sporting director after the Frenchman’s failure in making signings for the club. Abidal’s performance has not impressed Messi one bit in the last few months and he has insisted that the club signs an experienced player to fill-in the role instead of banking towards a club legend.
Andoni Zubizarreta did a very good job for five years as the sporting director, but left the club after falling out with the board of directors. Some of his marquee signings included Neymar and Luis Suarez, whereas Eric Abidal has overseen arrivals of expensive flops such as Ousmane Dembele and Philippe Coutinho, ahead of Kylian Mbappe who was available.
Messi now feels that Barca were in big need of a striker in the winter to continue bidding for the competitions this season and Rodrigo of Valencia would have been a great signing. However, the club failed to sanction a move worth 60 million euros for the Spain international and now, Barca are forced to make do without an out-and-out goal-scorer.
Quique Setien’s men sit second in the La Liga standings, three points behind Real Madrid whilst facing a difficult away trip to Athletic Bilbao in the Copa del Rey and a rejuvenating Napoli side in the Champions League. With all to play for, a striker’s signing was imperative but wasn’t to be as all eyes will be on Lionel Messi and Antoine Griezmann to deliver the goods.
Do you think Eric Abidal’s incompetency could be a problem for the Catalans?
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