Soccer

Barcelona Says Messi will Stay, Sacks Eric Abidal for Rumors

Author: Priyanka Saxena on Aug 20,2020

Following Barça's mortifying loss to Bundesliga winners Bayern Munich in the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals, speculations about Messi leaving Barcelona spread like a wildfire. However, in a recent statement, club president Josep Bartomeu had clarified that the superstar will stay. Messi is still at the same level and wants to end his career at Barcelona.

Barcelona Appoints New Coach.

Bartomeu announced the replacement of Quique Setien with Ronald Koeman as the new coach for the club. Koeman’s project will all be dedicated to Lione Messi who is going to play for Barça, he cleared the rumors about Messi leaving the club. Messi has already had a contract with Barcelona, which will complete in 2021.

Bartomeu also announced that the presidential elections for the club will take place in March 2021. He also defensively explained the demands & rumors going around for resigning from his position after the humiliating defeat by Bayern. Refuting these rumors, Bartomeu said, “We have a sporting crisis, but not an institutional one. We've had a very negative result in the Champions League but the club is in a good place in a social, and financial sense."

Barcelona sacks Eric Abidal.

The sporting director, Eric Abidal was sacked. Barcelona took this step as a part of rebuilding the team after the rumors about Messi leaving the club. This could be a move that the club has taken to keep Messi happy.

Amid the rumors of the superstar leaving the club, Barcelona made the announcement on August 18 that the contract of Eric Abidal, the sporting director has been terminated. Abida, the French international has once been the teammate of Messi. However, in the last few months, there have been tensions among the two probably due to the mismanagement in the club.

The club in its statement said, "FC Barcelona and Eric Abidal have reached an agreement for the ending of a contract that unites the two parties. The club would publicly like to thank Eric Abidal for his professionalism, commitment, dedication, and the close and positive nature of his relationship with all aspects of the Blaugrana family."

Messi on Leaving Barcelona.

After Barcelona had to go through this humiliating loss of 8-2 to Bayern Munich, in the Champions League, there have been rounds of speculations on “Messi opting-out” from the Barcas’. Messi’s future with the club has been up in the air. As a part of this mess and convincing Messi to stay, Barcelona has fired Quique Setien and replaced him with Ronald Koeman as the coach of the club.

Can Abidal’s termination be an indication of Messi Staying in?

Abidal, this season came with some irrelevant comment saying that the players are not working as hard as they should be under Ernesto Valverde, the then coach who was fired later in January. He added that the players were neither satisfied, nor they have been working as hard as they are expected to because of some internal communication issues and that they have not been able to sit well with Messi.

After Abidal made this accusation, Messi said, “Honestly, I don't like doing these things, but I think everyone should be and take ownership of their decisions. The players should own up to what happens on the pitch and additionally, we are the first ones to admit when we weren't good. The sporting directors should also take their share of the blame and above all else own up to the decisions they make. Lastly, I think that when one speaks about the players, they should give names because if not they're dirtying everyone and feeding things that are said and are not true."

So, with such communications going around on the social platforms, it could be established how the two have been annoyed with each other. And, Abidal being out of the team can very much be a reason for Messi to stay in the club. This is the time that Barcelona should make sure it is doing everything it can to save the superstar, the world-famous star stays. Sacking Abida, firing Quique Setien & replacing him with Ronald Koeman could be the first step towards this journey. But, there is still a lot more work left to be done — the squad needs to be bolstered to be able to contend with its maximum potential.