Barcelona

Gerard Pique understands supporters' anger over Neymar exit

By Daniel Lewis, Senior Reporter | 24 August 2017

Barcelona defender Gerard Pique is adamant that there has not been a falling out between the playing squad and the club's board members following a tricky recent spell.

Gerard Pique has confessed that Barcelona fans have every right to be annoyed by the loss of Neymar, but insists that the playing squad are not at loggerheads with the club's board.

The Catalan club entered the new season suffering a crisis of sorts after seeing one of their key players depart for Paris Saint-Germain, on top of losing heavily to rivals Real Madrid in the Supercopa de Espana.

To make matters worse, new signings have been thin on the ground in recent weeks - Paulinho's arrival from Guangzhou Evergrande doing little to quell supporter unrest - and there is even talk of a fraction growing between players and board members.

Hours after Barcelona announced their intention to sue Neymar over failing to fulfill his contract, Pique uploaded a social media snap of the pair together, but he has attempted to play down talk of a row brewing.

"We do not have a problem with the board at all and all this fuss about the photos are just things that happen. It was a coincidence," he told reporters. "The club issued the statement about the case against Neymar at 4pm when we were already at the party and it is not right to think we should know everything that is going on.

"We were also not told anything. They were just normal photos with a former teammate that was a friend of a lot of the team. If we want to give a message to the board then we would do it privately, we would sit down and talk it over with them and we do not need to do anything via social media or via photos.

"We are not angry at all and there is also not a lack of communication with the board. I already said at the Bernabeu that we need to be united and I am sure that the board are doing as well as they can."

"I can see that for the fans the departure of Neymar will have annoyed them but at the same time he has been a colleague for five years and on top of that a great friend. Aside from football, friends and people are very important. I understand that some people do not understand how he came to leave but a club has come in to pay his buy-out clause and Ney has decided to leave."

Barcelona put their troubles to one side on the opening weekend of the La Liga season by easing to a 2-0 win over Real Betis at Camp Nou.