La Liga: The easy solution to Barcelona's Messi issue

Barcelona will know that placating Lionel Messi is a priority

Barcelona are surely more likely to get rid of coach Luis Enrique than Lionel Messi, but who are the alternatives?

Barcelona's boastful slogan "mes que un club" (more than a club) has scarcely felt more ludicrous and inappropriate than it has over the past few weeks.

They are banned from signing any players this year, get through presidents and directors of football at the rate that Leeds change managers and now their usually placid star man is considering leaving because he spent the first 45 minutes of the latest league game on the bench.

Lionel Messi's fury at being sidelined against Real Sociedad was followed by him no-showing an open training session the next day. Though coach Luis Enrique denies that his relationship with the four-time Ballon d'Or winner has deteriorated, nobody believes him.

This has fuelled speculation about where Messi might end up if he demands a transfer, but there is another way of solving the problem that is liable to cause far less chaos: sacking Enrique.

It may seem unfair for the footballer to be favoured over the boss in this latest iconic player-versus-manager bust-up, particularly as it is difficult to dispute that Messi has handled things poorly, but he is clearly the more powerful and important figure.

Messi is Barcelona's greatest ever player by almost every statistical measurement, remains as influential as ever and is still somehow only 27. This isn't like having an ageing hero politicking and starting to think "he might not be worth the bother any more". Messi almost certainly is worth it.

Enrique by contrast was fortunate to get this opportunity in the first place after failing in his previous big job at Roma, where tellingly one of his shortcomings was struggling to cope with Francesco Totti. A respectable second half to last season at Celta Vigo shouldn't have been sufficient to override that.

The idea of the 44-year-old being the victim of this saga is gaining traction, so much so that a next permanent Barcelona market is now available on the Betfair Sportsbook, featuring more attractive options than they appeared to be faced with last summer.

Southampton boss Ronald Koeman, who scored the goal that won Barcelona their first ever European Cup in 1992, is the 5/4 favourite, followed at 4/1 by Frank de Boer, who delivered Ajax four Eredivisie titles in his first three-and-a-half years as a manager.

Jurgen Klopp and midfielder Xavi Hernandez are 6/1, while Diego Simeone and Carles Puyol are both 12/1. Legendary defender Puyol retired last year and took on a role underneath director of football Andoni Zubizarreta, but resigned when the former goalkeeper was sacked this week.

For all the off-field drama, Barcelona are only actually a point behind La Liga leaders Real Madrid, and are 3.8514/5 to win the title.