Barcelona manager Ronald Koeman has leapt to the defence of France forward Antoine Griezmann after he was again targeted by jeers from the club’s own supporters.

Griezmann has attracted the anger of a handful of supporters already this summer, being booed outside the club’s training ground by a group of fans who felt his high wage was to blame for Lionel Messi’s eventual departure from the club.

Those sentiments have not yet disappeared as Griezmann was again the target of jeers from fans, this time being whistled during Sunday’s 2-1 win over Getafe, in which he struggled and was substituted late on.

„As a manager, I can’t understand whistling our own player,“ said Koeman (via Sport). „You could whistle him if he had a bad attitude or didn’t work hard, but Antoine had other difficulties in the game. He wasn’t as fortunate as we could hope, but it’s just one game.

„I can ask him for four goals… but we have not created chances for him, either. In addition, in the second half we lost the ball a lot.“

Griezmann was not the only player to be targeted by the supporters. Centre-back Samuel Umtiti, who did not even make it on to the field, was whistled as he warmed up on the touchline.

As has been the case for the past few summers, Barcelona have told Umtiti that he is free to leave the club, but he is reluctant to walk away permanently and give up his expensive contract, which still has two years left to run.

One player who is expected to leave is midfielder Miralem Pjanic. The Bosnian has attracted plenty of loan interest from Serie A sides, and La Gazzetta dello Sport note that Barcelona are willing to pay 50% of his wages just to get the other half of his salary off the books.

Pjanic, whose contract has three years left to run, is wanted by Juventus but has also been linked with Fiorentina and Roma.