Having been fed up with the club’s recent displays, Lionel Messi has boiled down on three Barcelona players after their latest defeat in the league.
Levante beat a lacklustre Barcelona side by a 3-1 margin on Saturday to sentence them to their third league defeat of the campaign in just eleven matches. To put things into perspective, the Catalans had lost thrice in La Liga Santander in all of their 38 matches last season so this season’s figure is obviously a let down.
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Real Madrid in recent times have failed to pick up points and take advantage of Barca’s failures and the Whites once more struggled against Real Betis this time out, allowing Ernesto Valverde’s to be let off the hook. Zidane’s men missed their chance to go on top of La Liga, but are now equal on points with Barca and Real Sociedad at the summit.
Ernesto Valverde’s job is already under the cosh and the former Athletic Bilbao manager has until the Real Madrid clash only to save his job as per multiple claims. Nonetheless, it would not be surprising if Valverde is fired earlier than December 18 because the Catalans do have some difficult outings against Atletico Madrid, Borussia Dortmund and Inter Milan.
Lionel Messi is against the manager continuing at the club for much longer and has hence suggested that Barcelona bring in former Everton manager and club legend Ronald Koeman as his fill-in. But the Barca captain’s finger is not just pointed to the manager as Fox Sports claims that he wants three others to be kicked out as well.
Ousmane Dembele, who was bought for over 100 million euros is not in Leo Messi’s good books. The France international has had injury issues consistently since checking into La Liga Santander and some off-field issues have troubled the club as well. Playing inconsistently has seen Dembele face additional slack and he may be transfer listed soon.
Sergi Roberto is another player whose performances have taken a dip over the recent months. The Spaniard has not played in his original position of a midfielder for long and is underperforming in the defensive role that he has taken up very often. Nonetheless, Messi feels that Roberto’s time at the Camp Nou is done and dusted.
Finally, Portuguese international Nelson Semedo has struggled tremendously. Among a string of famous successors who have failed to replace Dani Alves, his name may be on top of the failures’ list. Messi wants him out, and if earlier news is to go by then the Argentinian is forcing Barca into buying Alexander-Arnold or Kimmich next summer.
Which other players do you think must be gotten rid of and replaced by the Blaugrana?