Rakitic's wife hits out at his 'poor treatment' by Barcelona

Ivan Rakitic's partner, Raquel Mauri, has taken to Instagram to criticise the treament her husband has received at Barcelona this season. Mauri posted a photo of Manu Carreño's (a journalist with Cadena SER) quote in which he said "you can't treat a player any worse than that."

She accompanied it with a message for Rakitic: "Don't give up the fight. You are an example of consistency, knowledge and professionalism. I love you for all of this. You are great and nobody can change that."

Carreño said it is difficult for Rakitic to break into the team with Busquets, Arthur and De Jong ahead of him but given their inconsistent start to the season, the Croatian should at least be considered. He admits "he doesn't always play as a ten but he rarely drops below a seven and a half or an eight."

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Rakitic has only started one game this season, a 2-0 loss to Granada, and only played 10 minutes of the most recent LaLiga game against Getafe.

The Croatian arrived at Barcelona in 2014 and was a permanent fixture in the team, even keeping Xavi out of the starting XI during his last year at the club. He has played 166 minutes so far this season. He was linked with a move away from the Camp Nou during the summer but that never came to pass but it seems now that his time at Barcelona could be coming to an end.