Valverde: Spanish federation should have told clubs about non-EU players earlier Supercopa de Espana He is not happy despite the good news

The RFEF announced on Saturday that there would be no restrictions on non-European players in this year's Supercopa and while that may seem like good news for Barcelona, Ernesto Valverde is not happy that they were not informed earlier.

Valverde appeared perplexed at his pre-match press conference when discussing the statement released by the Spanish federation and is adamant that he or the club were not aware that they would be allowed to play as many non-EU players as they like.

"As for the Supercopa not being a professional competition, I do not know what to tell you," he said.

"I think that Sevilla are professionals and we are professionals.

"With all the trouble we have had this week with non-EU squad members, they could have warned us before."

It was widely reported that Valverde demanded the club signed him another midfielder after Paulinho's departure, leading to Arturo Vidal's arrival, but the coach insists this did not happen.

"You said with such certainty that I had said there was a midfielder missing that I also believed it," he added.

"I said when Paulinho left that we are fine as we are.

"I only care about what I have and I have very good players here, I do not ask the club for players."

Riqui Puig is one of the young players who caught a lot of attention this pre-season, with Gennaro Gattuso singling him out for praise after Barcelona played AC MIlan, and Valverde also took a moment to talk about the youngster.

"My thoughts of him have not changed because of the media noise.

"He has great qualities, knows exactly how we play and he has rhythm but everything takes a while.

"We have high hopes for him and are looking forward to seeing how he performs in a game that is not a friendly."