Football
BREAKING: Fresh tension at Barcelona amidst Lionel Messi’s latest disagreement with the board
Barcelona’s board and the players have continued to experienced series of discordant tunes lately.
National Daily can recall that there was a seemingly cold war between the board and the players recently before Messi announced that he and his Barcelona team-mates would be taking a 70 per cent pay cut as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
In a statement, the Barcelona captain said: “Before going any further, we want to make it clear that we were always willing to reduce our salaries because we understand perfectly that we are in an exceptional situation.
“We, as players, are always here to help the club when they ask.
“It does not cease to surprise us that from within the club there were those who tried to put us under the magnifying glass and tried to add pressure to do something that we always knew we would do.
“If we didn’t speak until now, it’s because the priority was to to find solutions to help the club and to see who the most affected were during this situation.
“For our party, the moment has arrived that, the cut will be 70 per cent of our wage during the state of alarm. We will also help out the club in order for the workers to be paid 100 per cent of their wages.”
No sooner has the initial warfare simmered, yet another disagreement is rearing its ugly head.
National Daily can confirm from the report by The Athletic that Lionel Messi is in a divergence view with the board over the transfer plans of Philippe Coutinho.
It is revealed that Messi would rather Barcelona sell Ousmane Dembele and keep hold of Philippe Coutinho.
Messi would rather Coutinho remains at Nou Camp next season
According to The Athletic, Messi and other senior players at Barcelona would rather the club sell Dembele and retain the services of Coutinho.
The report adds that players are aware that someone will need to be sold if the club have any chance of finding the money to re-sign Neymar from Paris Saint-Germain.
Coutinho looks certain to leave the Nou Camp in the summer after failing to impress following his £142million British record transfer from Liverpool.
The 27-year-old Brazilian’s career has stagnated in recent months, and he needs to move in order to rediscover his form from 2018.