Barcelona have announced via their official Twitter account that sporting director, Eric Abidal, has been relieved of his duties as Sporting Director.
The official announcement from the club read: “FC Barcelona and Eric Abidal have reached an agreement for the termination of the contract which united both parties,” a club statement read.
“The club publicly expresses its gratitude to Eric Abidal for the professionalism, commitment, dedication and positive and close treatment he has always shown towards all the estates that make up the Barca family and wishes him luck and success in the future.”
As Barcelona’s Sporting Director, Abidal will be remembered mainly for his decision to sack former head coach, Valderde.
Next to that crucial decision was his refusal, as the man in charge of Sports, to sign any young players to boost Barca’s aging players.
Another shocking oversight of his was the rampant sale of young promising players in recent times, opting to revitalize the team with more aged players. A prime example is the letting off of Arthur Melo (23) and replacing him with Pjanic (31).
He is arguably not the only person to be blamed for these poor choices. Many have called for the outright resignation of club president Bartomeu himself.
Reports indicated, however, that Josep Maria Bartomeu has pulled the presidential election forward to March next year. Many Barcelona fans are still not satisfied, nonetheless.
