Barcelona crisis: Lionel Messi 'urges' board to fire manager Luis Enrique or he will leave

Barcelona star Lionel Messi has sent an ultimatum to the club board suggesting that if they don't sack manager Luis Enrique he will leave the club at the end of the season, according to reports in Spain.

Enrique took charge of the Catalan side this summer following the departure of current Argentina boss Gerardo Martino.

Having being played at the Camp Nou alongside some members of the current squad, including captain Xavi Hernandez, Enrique was expected to finally fill the void left by Pep Guardiola.

However the Spanish giants have had a slow start to the life under the new boss and he has been very criticized not only for the results but particularly for his style.

Since the beginning of the campaign reports in Spain have been claiming some crucial members of the squad do not share the boss's football philosophy.

Spanish newspapers report a massive rift has developed between Messi and the coach in recent training sessions.

Mundo Deportivo claimed that on January 2 an angry Messi told Enrique: "I'll see you in the changing room".

Enrique then surprisingly benched Messi during the Sunday defeat at Real Sociedad.

As a response the Argentinian failed to show up at the training session the following day, claiming he had been struck down by a bout of gastroenteritis.

Reports said the boss then tried to take disciplinary measures against Messi but the central midfielder Xavi and the rest of the team rebelled against the punishment.

AS reported Messi "has more or less made it known to the board that it's either Enrique or him" and president Josep Maria Bartomeu would favour Messi ahead of the embattled coach.

Yet, the Argentinian superstar is still flirting with a move to Chelsea.

The rumour mill went into top gear when on 5 January Messi started to follow Chelsea, Thibaut Courtois and Filipe Luis on his Instagram account.

Meanwhile, on 7 January Enrique himself pointedly refused to comment on reports of a feud with the Argentinian.

He said: "I'm not going to disclose what is said within the dressing room. There is so much negative information around and a lot of lies – which I'm not going to comment on. Situations change over the course of the season or depending on who you talk to. I would like to have a more positive atmosphere but I feel as strong now as I did five months ago when I started the job".

"I've said it many times, Messi is the most important player in the world and the best player in our squad".

Later on that day, Bartomeu announced the club will hold presidential elections this summer in order to ease the current tension and after recently sacking sporting director Andoni Zubizarreta.

"This noise, this tension, disproportionate, ends up affecting team. That is why we have called elections."

When asked about Messi and Luis Enrique relationship, he said: "The dressing room is a sacred space, many things can happen there, but they stay there."