Barcelona's Vidal unhappy with treatment since summer move

All has not been rosy for Arturo Vidal since his summer move to Barcelona.

The Chile midfielder, 31, signed a three-year deal with the Spanish giants to complete a move from German behemoth Bayern Munich during the transfer window. However, his time in Catalonia has been frustrating thus far, with the former Juventus man having made just two starts.

In fact, though he has amassed nine appearances in all competitions over the last two months, Vidal has just 176 minutes of football to his name for La Blaugrana, and he’s not happy about it.

“How can I be happy if I don’t play – and me, of all people?” Vidal said to reporters while on duty for Chile, as reported by Reuters.

“I am somebody who has always fought, been at the best teams in the world, won everything, and who wants to continue winning at Barcelona.”

The midfielder also made sure to confirm his availability is not being limited by any fitness issues.

“I am fine physically and happy. In the past few games, I have been a bit annoyed but that is how it is, we will keep battling. There are a lot of important games ahead and we will see,” he added.

Vidal is a serial champion – across his time in Turin and Bavaria, he has won a domestic league title in each of his last seven seasons as a player. However, competition for a midfield spot at Camp Nou is as intense as ever, with Vidal vying with the likes of Sergio Busquets, Ivan Rakitic, Sergi Roberto, Rafinha, and fellow summer signing Arthur for a central position.

He was not selected at all for the 1-1 La Liga draw against Valencia on Sunday after surfacing for just three minutes against Tottenham Hotspur in the Champions League. After the tie with Los Che, he posted (and, subsequently, deleted) an Instagram post which read: “Don’t fight with those who are like Judas, they will hang themselves,” according to ESPN.

After erasing the message, he said: “I think people took (that post) in the wrong way. It 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.”