Frenchman Eric Abidal spoke for the first time since leaving the position of sports director for Barcelona, and revealed the reasons for the failure of the deal to return Neymar to the Catalan club and the scenes of consultations for the succession of former coach Ernesto Valverde, in addition to the details of his dispute with Argentine star Lionel Messi.
In an interview with the British newspaper The Telegraph, Abidal confirmed that he had traveled to Paris 10 days before the closure of the summer transfer market for 2019, and explained that Leonardo, the sporting director of Paris Saint-Germain, was not opposed to giving up the services of Neymar.
Abidal explained - according to excerpts from the interview published in Spanish newspapers - that he is convinced that Neymar would have returned to Barcelona had the Catalan club's management not contracted at that time with French striker Antoine Griezmann.
On the other hand, Abidal talked about the consultations that took place regarding the coach who would succeed Valverde, who left Barcelona in early 2020, and explained that he had nominated Mauricio Pochettino, Italian Massimiliano Alegre and the former captain of Xavi, in addition to coach Quique Setien, who was chosen to lead the team.
The former Barcelona and French national team player indicated that he would have preferred to sign Pochettino, but parts of the administration objected because of the Argentine coach's relationship with local rivals Espanyol.
Regarding the dispute that erupted with Messi, the Argentine star responded to Abidal's statements in which he attacked the players and said that some of them were behind Valverde's dismissal. "Messi spoke to me personally. We had a serious conversation. I did not consider that a problem because I always prefer transparency, he was the only player who spoke." With me this way, I do not have to fix anything with Messi, our relationship has not changed from my point of view, and I have never said that Messi would have asked for Valverde's dismissal. "
On the other hand, Abidal talked about the financial situation of the indebted Barcelona club, and said that in 2019 he had brought in a British company that wanted to invest in the team, but the deal failed after the club's management refused to reveal the details of the team's debts.
He said that parties in the administration refused to disclose those details because this would constitute evidence of their guilt and raise demands for their departure from the team leadership.