Abidal 'could become fourth to lose his job at Barcelona in the last five years'

Eric Abidal is walking a tightrope at Barcelona.

The current director of football at the Camp Nou is starting to feel the pressure, and he could become the fourth to lose his job at the club in the last five years.

RAC1 are reporting that Abidal could well be dismissed once Josep Maria Bartomeu arrives for the emergency meeting arranged after Tuesday's comments from Lionel Messi.

Barcelona have gone through Robert Fernandez and Pep Segura in recent years, and Bartomeu had tried to recruit Carles Puyol for the role before Abidal was appointed, and they also spoke to Jordi Cruyff.

Segura's departure last summer, in turn, caused Jordi Mestre's resignation as vice-president and this is what was the initial spark for this most recent crisis at the club.

Abidal oversaw the negotiations with Paris Saint-Germain to bring Neymar back, which ended unsuccessfully, though he did complete moves for Frenkie de Jong, Antoine Griezmann, Neto and Junior Firpo.

But now his position is at risk after his interview with Sport prompted a reaction from Lionel Messi, on top of the fact that he failed to add an attacking reinforcement in January, despite Luis Suarez picking up an injury.

Looking back

Andoni Zubizaretta, who held the role from 2010 to 2015, helped build their last European champions by signing David Villa, Jordi Alba, Cesc Fabregas, Alexis Sanchez, Claudio Bravo, Marc-Andre ter Stegen, Ivan Rakitic, Luis Suarez and Neymar.

Robert Fernandez succeeded him and kept the job for three years, and it was him who appointed Ernesto Valverde as Luis Enrique's replacement.

His spell was defined by Neymar's exit and the signings of Philippe Coutinho and Ousmane Dembele though, but he did also sign Nelson Semedo, Samuel Umtiti and others as well.

Segura then took the job and worked on the deals for De Jong, Griezmann, Clement Lenglet.

In short, Barcelona have gone through four directors of football in the last five years without much success.