The public spat between Barcelona star Lionel Messi and Eric Abidal this week may usher the end of the Argentinian’s era at the Spanish club.
It is no secret that Lionel Messi took the words uttered by Eric Abidal to heart, which led him to call out the Barcelona Sporting Director telling him to take responsibility for the firing of former manager Valverde.
What seemed to have riled Lionel Messi up even more, were the Abidal’s comments that ”lots of players were not satisfied and nor did they work much” during the time Valverde was manager of the Spanish club.
This caused Lionel Messi to call out Eric Abidal on his Instagram going on to tell the former Barcelona player as he published the following:
“The players [are responsible for] what happens on the pitch, and we have been the first to recognize when we were not good. The people in the sporting directorate should also assume their responsibility and above all take ownership of the decisions they make.”
“Finally, I think that when players are talked about, names should be given because, if not, we are all being dirtied and it feeds comments that are made and are not true.”
Ever since the drama, the tension in the Barcelona camp has bee nat an all-time high and with Lionel Messi able to leave the club this summer on a free transfer, the timing could not be worse.
Speculation into his potential departure from Camp Nou have only been heightened when club legend Lobo Carrasco told Spanish TV that after the issue with Vidal, “It’s the first time Messi has looked to me like he has one foot out of the door.”
With the Argentinian’s contract stating that he is able to leave at the end of the summer with only having to give a month’s notice in advance, speculation is rife that he may be looking to join his former manager Pep Guardiola at Manchester City and using this opportunity to make his first appearance in the English Premier League.
With Barcelona having failed to bring back Neymar as requested by Messi and his fellow teammates and the clubs failure to find a replacement for an injured Luis Suarez who is out for the rest of the season, the frustrations in the Barcelona dressing room are growing more and more with each passing day.
Their recent 1-0 loss to Athletico Bilbao in the Copa del Rey quarter-finals and the announcement that Ousmane Dembele will be out for the rest of the season due to a proximal hamstring tear in his right thigh, there are more reasons for the Barcelona star to leave rather than to stay.
One of the main things that may hamper the Argentinian’s his leaving the club is the annual £50million salary that comes with his transfer, a tab that very few clubs are able to handle right now.
