Barcelona sports director Eric Abidal says he's learned from his recent public spat with captain Lionel Messi.

Messi publicly rebuked Abidal after the Frenchman suggested the players were keen to see former coach Ernesto Valverde axed.

"If I know and I have learned something it's that the internal issues are arranged internally and not in the media," he said during Martin Braithwaite's presentation.

"From here we will see."

Barcelona have been criticised for their transfer planning this season, but Abidal stressed that people should focus on the quality of the actual squad rather than the number of the available players.

"First, you have to make decisions," he noted.

"You can talk about a small squad, but there are injured players.

"If [Ousmane] Dembele wasn't injured, we wouldn't be here.

"We can't control [Carles] Alena because he wanted to be loaned out, just like other players, and always after speaking with the coach.

"I don't talk about the number of players; the important thing is their quality."