Top Barcelona executive makes a brave choice of jacket to blow the lid on culture of idleness

Some reports from Spain have reached the English press, regarding the comments of former Barcelona President and head of their Economic Commission Xavier Sala i Martin, who claimed in a radio interview that “There are two or three players at Barcelona who get to mess around all day and who are kept apart from the rest of the team, and at the club we pretend that they are injured.”

He claimed that those players were also being kept apart from the rest of the squad so as not to interfere with day to day business, and that it was those players who were most frequently out at night and trained less than the others.

“There are some players who work hard in spite of having plenty of money and women, and others who out of 60 training sessions only turn up to 22,” he said, apparently referring to Ronaldinho, Deco and possibly Marquez.

Barcelona swiftly moved to deny the existence of any pretend injuries, but there’s clearly something strange going on. Not least, why would Mr Sala, a distinguished economist, choose to wear such a truly hideous garment?