Barcelona battle: Messi wants to veto club’s transfer move

                                                        
Lionel Messi wants to shape Barcelona’s future

There’s no question that Lionel Messi is the single most powerful force at Barcelona these days. The diminutive Argentine has so much clout that he’s attempting to veto one of the club’s transfer decisions in advance of the January transfer window.

Reports from Spain claim that Messi is doing his best to convince club officials to hang on to Aleix Vidal. The 28-year-old midfielder has been linked with a return to Sevilla in the Spanish press as of late. Evidently, that isn’t a move that Messi wants to see come to fruition.

The reality is Messi seems to be more concerned with the amount of healthy players available at Camp Nou than Vidal’s future. The Catalan giants have been hammered with a mounting injury crisis over the past few weeks. As a result, Messi doesn’t want the club to sell any first-team players during the January window.
It’ll be quite interesting to see whether or not club officials capitulate to Messi’s demands. He’s clearly the club’s most important player, but higher-ups at Barcelona don’t want to appear weak. Messi’s move has put them in a very awkward position. If they sell Vidal, they risk upsetting their most valuable asset. If they reverse course and keep him, it could open the door for Messi controlling future personnel decisions.
The happy medium for Barcelona officials would be to purchase a number of reinforcements during the winter window. If they increase their numbers, it’s very likely Messi would sign off on seeing Vidal sold back to Sevilla. After all, it’s not as if the former Sevilla man has been all that influential since changing his La Liga allegiance.
In the end, expect Lionel Messi to be placated no matter what. Whether club officials like it or not, he’s the most important man at Barcelona. If he digs his heels in and demands that Vidal be kept, then the club will be forced to capitulate and keep him.