23 years old Spanish midfielder Riqui Puig has finally spoken about what exactly happened during his time at Barcelona revealing the cruel nature of Barcelona’s treatment towards the players they don’t need.
Puig joined Barcelona back in 2014 and progressed through the La Masia ranks before making his way into the first squad. He was regarded as the next big Barcelona midfield talent but was given few opportunities to showcase his talent.
Riqui wasn’t a regular starter and current manager Xavi alongside the board decided him to kick out from Barcelona. Puig was not included in Barcelona’s preseason trip along with Neto, Oscar Mingueza, Moussa Wague, and Samuel Umtiti.
All of those players were under contract but Barcelona decided to get rid of them because of their financial problems. He finally left Barcelona in July 2022 joining MLS side LA Galaxy.
Puig told AS he was shocked to see that kind of behavior from his former employers. And he recalls the hard time as Puig trained alone for a month to be match ready.
Here is what Riqui Puig told in an interview with AS:
It was a tough month because I had never seen that before, leaving players behind in Barcelona and going on a tour without them. Perhaps I understand the club’s position, they want to put pressure on players to leave, but there are other ways to do it. It was really difficult being in Barcelona, training alone, with four other team-mates who were also there with me.
He also added
After seven years at the club, being in Barcelona when all my team-mates are in Los Angeles playing matches, well, the truth is that it hurt me a lot. It’s a difficult situation and sometimes you have to make decisions and they have made this decision but I don’t agree with it.
Riqui Puig is currently his enjoying his football in the United States with MLS side LA Galaxy, he hopes to be in the Spain squad in the coming Qatar World Cup 2022.
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