Gerard Piqué opens up about when he decided it was the right time to leave Manchester United, after spending four years at the club.
Although Gerard Piqué is renowned as one of the greatest defenders of the previous generation, Manchester United cannot say they got the best out of the Spanish defender at Old Trafford.
United signed Piqué from Barcelona’s La Masia academy in 2004, after Sir Alex Ferguson recognised his immense potential as a young Spanish Under-17 international. The club knew he hadn’t signed a professional contract at Barcelona and took advantage of the situation.
Piqué would eventually return to Barcelona and go on to win every piece of silverware possible – for club and country. As a young defender, he was unable to break into United’s back four because the greatest defensive partnership in Premier League history (Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand) was being forged.
Nowadays, Piqué is involved in his Kings League and Sorare Rivals, a fantasy game.
Photo by Tristar Media/WireImageGerard Piqué meeting with Sir Alex Ferguson
Despite having tons of potential, Piqué was not getting the game time he wanted at United.
Ferguson had other priorities, and all parties concluded that it would be best to go their own ways as Piqué returned to Camp Nou.
Piqué made a total of 23 appearances for United before leaving the club, before going on to make 616 appearances for Barcelona throughout his career.
United didn’t miss out so much because Ferguson still went on to build another Champions League-winning side in 2008.
Speaking about his United exit, Piqué recalls a meeting with Ferguson where he was not convinced that he would get enough opportunities in the team.
“So I made the decision to leave, but not for a matter of money. I have never made decisions for money, rather I had a feeling at Manchester United,” Piqué said on the latest episode of Podpah.
“I sat with Alex Ferguson a couple of times and he explained to me everything he wanted to do with me. And I did not have the feeling that I was close to making the jump (to the first-team). So I made the decision to leave.”
Later in the podcast, he added: “When Barcelona called, for me it meant the world. Moreover, I had an offer from Juventus at that moment that offered much more money and at the last moment Barça came and I did not even ask how much money they were offering, they offered much less, but I didn’t care.
“I went to Barcelona, it was the dream fulfilled and from there this great story began with the club in which I played 15 years and we won all the titles many times.”
Spanish players to play for Man Utd
Piqué was the second Spanish player to join United.
The initial Spanish import was Ricardo López Felipe, who was a third-choice goalkeeper, making only a handful of senior appearances.
David de Gea followed before spending 12 years at Old Trafford, and since then we’ve had Victor Valdes, Ander Herrera, Juan Mata and Sergio Reguilon.