Fernando Polo at Mundo Deportivo published multiple articles stating Rakitic was angry and adamant he wanted to stay throughout the whole summer.
And he may as well have been quoting Rakitic himself verbatim because there's not a doubt he was talking to Rakitic and his brother directly when he wrote 'sources very close to the player said such and such' again and again.
Ivan was prepared to ride it out until the transfer window closed, and since no meaningful offers came in (bargaining chip for Neymar, Can swap in Juve's case, a player who didn't even make their Champions League squad) he stayed.
This whole thing must have been a bit of a reality check for him though, from thinking himself God 4 months ago with that 'that midfield spot is taken and occupied by me' to being benched by Valverde and pushed out by the suits upstairs here and unwanted by other European clubs.
Let's see what happens next, Rakitic with Valverde still here can still potentially be a bit of a rotten combination. It's almost as if Roma and Anfield never happened...
Ok, but why do you mention this "thinking himself as a God"?
If we are honest, let's check our team:
1. Messi thinks that he is a God. He runs when he wants. He sulks when he wants. He plays on a position which he wants. He is asking the board to sign Neymar. He is deciding whether a coach will go or not. Doesn't want to get rested, doesn't listen to coaches with a long term plans of rotations to keep him fresh in spring.
2. Suarez thinks he is a God. He also doesn't want to rest. Yells at everyone. A part of Club de Amigos. Asked for a fkng Neymar. Wanted a coach to stay, since they don't have to run too much on training grounds.
3. Busquets? Lol. He probably think that he is a walking God among humans. The only remaining part of a Xavi-Iniesta-Busi trio. Rarely says that he played bad. Doing tons of mistakes on a field. Walking and jogging, playing half arsed all the time.
4. Pique, similar.
5. Umtiti, a weird dude. Quite young, but already in 2018 started to act like a God when he wanted a new contract. Probably thinks that he is the best defender in the world.
I mean, your posts sound as if Raki is the only guy doing this, while majority of our older players are the same.
They don't run anymore. They play half arsed. They run when they want, they walk when they want.
They have an insane wages, they want to play all the time. They DO play all the time.
They act as living legends, and as if fans should be grateful for being able to watch and witness their greatness every weekend.
Name one older player who is here for 5 years or longer and who doesn't act like an entitled asshole.
Again, I have wrote before, we are paying the price of our success in the last decade.
In the past, we have never been successful for that long.
And it was easy to make a generation change.
In late 90s, we only won 2 La Ligas, it was easy to try with new players and turn the page.
In early 00s, we haven't won anything, it was easy to sell everyone and hire Rijkaard, Ronnie, Etoo and Deco.
They won 2 La ligas and 1 CL in 5 years, which is nice, but nowhere near Messi's prime years.
So, it was easier to get rid of Rijkaard and his team and build a new, Pep's team.
Ronnie, Deco, Guily, Larssson, Edmilson, Gio were old, drained and LESS motivated as in 2003-2004, when we started a cycle.
So, again, in 2003 or 2004, we started a cycle with Rijkaard and a core were young, hungry, motivated players like:
2004:
Ronnie 24
Etoo 23 (or 2-3 years older since he lied with age)
Xavi 24
Iniesta 20
Puyol 26
Valdes 22
Marquez 25
And the oldest starters were:
Gio 29
Edmilson 28
Guily 28
Belletti 28
Deco 27
So, we turned the page and majority of our team were youngsters aged 23-24 like Ronnie, Etoo, Xavi.
NOBODY was older than 29 years.
So, we started a cycle with nobody aged 30.
Then, of course that this team who had all required ingredients (a good president, a good sporting director, a good coach, some La Masia gems, and a lot of good players bought aged 23-28)=started a new cycle.
Remember, only one player (Deco) in that team had 1 CL title.
Of course that our players were hungry and that they were giving 120%.
What happened after 4-5 years?
Ronnie turned 28 and lost motivation after winning CLs and Ballon D Ors.
Deco was already 31.
Etoo was almost 30 in real age.
Xavi 28.
Edmilson 32.
Guily 32.
Belletti 32.
Gio 33.
So, our team aged, and lots motivation.
And of course that we turned into shit.
Then Pep came and did the same thing which Rijkaard did:
Sold all drained superstars from a former era and built a new young team.
We lost: Ronnie 28, Etoo, 30-ish, Deco 31, Edmilson 32, Guily 32, Henry 33 left soon, Thuram 36, Zambrotta 31.
And Pep has built a new team around young Iniesta 24, Busi 21, Messi 22, Pique 22, Pedro 21.
And now, 10 years later, for the first time in our history, we have a team which dominated for 10 or 15 years.
And it is hard to get rid of those legends. We never had these problems in the past.
I mean, Messi is still good, but imagine problems in 2-3 years when a moment will come that he won't be good enough anymore to be a starter (and that moment will come one day), and he will still be on 100M gross wages.
What will we do then? How can you bench Messi?
How can you tell him?= you are not good enough anymore. And some random kid should play instead of you.
The same is already happening with Raki, Suarez, Busi, soon with Alba, Pique.
I know that you guys hate only EV, but imo, our team was NEVER in problems as today:
1. we never had THIS MANY old, unmotivated players.
LA Masia is dry.
And new kids are mostly bad (Dembele, Malcom, Semedo), except Frenkie and maybe Arthur.
Also, just look at Liverpool and City.
Pep and Klopp didn't build their new teams around 30 years old drained superstars.
But around 23-26 years old players, like Rijkaard in 2003 and Pep in 2008.
So, I don't think that a team will move forward when a cancer Raki will leave or when EV will leav, but when we will truly turn the page and start to build a new team.
But for that, we will need a new president, a new sporting director and a new coach.
Since a current board will either buy a shit frauds like Neymar for 200M, or horrible youngsters like Dembele, Malcom, Denis, Gomes, Paco and similar.
This board can't do right anything.
For the end of a post, regarding motivation: remember our team of zombies losing to Juve, Roma, Liverpool in the last 3 years.
Without any motivation or a spark.
Then go back and take a look at body language, emotions, happiness of our team in 2006 when we weren't a team of complacent museum grannies.
Can you still see a similar spark in the eyes of Messi, Suarez, Busquets, Rakitic today? I can't:
Look at a pure, childish, sincere happiness after a winning goal:
