Arturo Vidal’s disgruntled social media posts showed a lack of respect towards his Barcelona teammates, the Catalan club’s general manager has told Mundo Deportivo.
Vidal posted an angry face emoji on his Instagram story following Barca’s Champions League win over Tottenham last Wednesday, when he only came on for the final few minutes.
The Chile international then sparked a fresh controversy after Sunday’s draw at Valencia, when he was an unused substitute, after posting and then deleting a message which said: “Don’t fight with those who are like Judas, they will hang themselves.”
Pep Segura says the posts did more damage to Vidal than to anyone else but backed the midfielder to make amends for his mistake.
“Arturo Vidal’s messages have a double meaning,” Segura said. “You can look at them positively because they demonstrate that he’s a guy who wants to get integrated quickly and help the team. He feels frustrated personally that he’s not playing more minutes.
“The negative is we feel he has to work hard and be aware that he’s part of a great team, with great players. He has to have respect for his teammates, for the dressing room, the coach and the club.
“We understand that he’s aware that those tweets did more damage to himself than anyone else. I think he will make up for it.”
Asked if he has discussed the matter with Vidal, Segura added: “We always speak with all the players and these issues are dealt with day-to-day.”
Vidal, 31, joined Barca from Bayern Munich in the summer for €20 million but has made just two starts for his new club so far — and he was withdrawn before the hour mark on both occasions.
He has made another seven appearances off the bench but in total he has played just 176 minutes of club football so far this season, although he has denied a lack of regular action was behind his social media outburst.
“I think people took [my social media messages] in the wrong way,” he said from Chile’s camp in Miami earlier this week.
“[The message about Judas] had nothing to do with anything sport-related and I deleted it to stop people from speculating.
“There are personal things and jokes which you can put on social media and people take the wrong way. I changed it but it had nothing to do with Barcelona or with anyone in particular. When I have to say something I say it to someone’s face.
“When I have a problem or I am mad about something, I go straight to the coach and speak directly to him. You can have various reasons for posting these things on social networks.”