Gerard Piqué faces a run-in with the Barcelona board after the under-fire defender used his four-day break from training to travel to Shanghai in an attempt to get his revamped Davis Cup tournament off the ground.

Piqué, who retired from international duty after the World Cup, has been given the green light by the International Tennis Federation to stage a revamped format of the tennis competition through his investment company Kosmos but has faced resistance from the game’s top stars including Roger Federer, the driving force behind the Laver Cup, which pits Europe against the rest of the world and has enjoyed a large following during its first two editions and could clash with Piqué’s proposal to fit the Davis Cup into a single week in Madrid at the same time of the year.

Barcelona do not share Piqué's mood for a spot of tennis

Piqué and his business partners celebrate being handed the Davis Cup. Gregg Newton (AFP)

Piqué travelled to Shanghai during his time off to speak to Novak Djokovic and Alex Zverev, who were competing at the Shanghai Masters and have been two of the Tour’s most vocal opponents to the new Davis Cup.

Barcelona feel that Piqué – one of two fit centeral defenders Ernesto Valverde can call upon for a run of fixtures that includes Sevilla, Inter Milan and Real Madrid – is more interested in his business ventures than attempting to help the club arrest a recent slump in form.

“Barcelona believe Piqué is more focussed on his company than what is happening on the pitch and the club is furious because he has travelled 20,000 kilometres to Shanghai and back to try and convince tennis players who aren’t interested in what he has to say to play in the Davis Cup,” stated a commentator on Spanish football show El Chiringuito on Monday.

Piqué Barcelona

Defender

Spain