Barcelona coach Ernesto Valverde expressed his displeasure at the Spanish club's decision to set up a team camp in the United States in the coming days, APA reports citing Tellerreport.
The local newspaper AS reported that Valverde had wanted to stay on to prepare for the first season of the new league season at the Athletic Bilbao, scheduled for mid-January.
The coach was looking to equip his side well for this confrontation and follow the players who have just finished their holidays after participating in the Copa America 2019 tournament, instead of going on a long trip abroad.
Barcelona have started to prepare in Japan, where they have played several friendly matches, and therefore Valverde sees the futility of another difficult journey despite its importance to the management of the Catalan club economically and marketing.
The Barcelona mission is scheduled to travel to the United States on Thursday for a week-long trip with two clubs with Napoli.
The team will be back for at least one week to recover from the stress caused by this long trip, and then prepare to face Athletic Bilbao.
"We will see how we can solve this," Valverde said, adding that he was not looking forward to the impending flight, but would have to accept it and deal wisely with club president Josep Maria Bartomio, who keeps economic interests in mind.
The club president does not hesitate to intervene in the affairs of the team from time to time, against the backdrop of his displeasure with Barcelona's sudden exit from the semi-finals of the Champions League last season.
AS said Barcelona's fall to Liverpool in the semi-finals of the European championship had a big negative impact. Bartomeo became more severe in dealing with managers and players, something that Valverde is well aware of and has to deal with intelligently.
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