Barcelona star Gerard Pique has given a frank response to Lionel Messi‘s confirmed exit from the club.
Messi has found himself at the centre of a developing storm in recent days after talks over his contract renewal spectacularly broken down at the Camp Nou.
Pique has been an ever present teammate and friend of Messi’s over the years and he admitted there will be a significant period of readjustment in the coming months.
“The team is a bit broken because of Messi’s departure, and we will lose magic in attack, but we have to move forward as the fans expect a lot”, as per reports from Marca.
“We’ve lost the best player of all time and it hurts us all.
“I don’t know the whole story, the two parties have said it was a matter of numbers, but the management of previous years has not helped.”
Messi’s next move will now dominate the headlines in the coming weeks with speculation growing over his next destination.
Ligue 1 giants Paris Saint-Germain are the front runners to secure a deal for the 34-year-old with a two year contract on the table for the six Ballon d’Or winner.
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Something stinks here. Griezmann says he is staying days before it is revealed by Laporta that the club were unable to sign Messi.
It’s all economics. Doesn’t make sense to sell a player who was bought recently for 120 in a market that was offering on 60. Griezmann is 29, Messi 34. Coutinho, Dembele also fall in the same category.
Messi was asked to reduce his salary even further. Did any of the so called captains offer to take a reduction in salary? No because they were required in the team to help groom the new generation. I’m sure if Laporta was there the year before, he would have taken up Messi’s offer to leave and earned a whopping transfer fee. Jorge is right in saying, ‘ you used my son to win the election’ but did nothing else.
Laporta and Barcelona are betting on the savings of Messi’s salary to bring in other players and groom the younger generation of Pedri, Nico, Yusuf, Balde, Collado, Dest and make the next generation of stars.
This was all planned. There was never a Messi signing a new contract. He was too high an earner, too old to fit in, La Liga, salary cap and Tebas convenient scapegoats. Pique a hypocrite. Alba / Busquets backstabbers, refused a reduction. Umtiti refuses to admit he is a has been and a bench warmer with a fat pay package. The only good guy is Griezmann who was always open to anything