Gerard Pique has come good on his long-term promise to Barcelona after confirming his retirement from football – a decision that will reportedly save the club £46million.
Pique’s retirement announcement followed claims that the defender had a falling out with Barca boss Xavi over a lack of playing time and a leak of the player's contract at the club by Spanish media outlet El Mundo. The 35-year-old had 18 months remaining on his contract, which had been due to end in June 2024.
Veteran defender Pique has clocked up 615 first-team appearances for the Catalan club but has only started just five matches this season, which came due to injuries to other central defenders. The arrivals of Jules Kounde and Andreas Christensen this summer had pushed him down the pecking order, alongside the presence of Eric Garcia and Ronald Araujo.
Pique had been long-established as one of the highest-earners at the Camp Nou despite accepting multiple salary deferrals - many of which remained owed to him - and reductions in the past few years. Indeed, it has been highlighted by Sport that the remainder of his contract would have set the Catalan club back a whopping £46million.
Those same sources highlighted that Barca had been hopeful for several months that the player would stick to his previous promise of agreeing to leave the club once he falls out of the starting line-up. Pique is previously quoted as saying: “I will retire at Barcelona, but never as a substitute.”
Pique said after the embarrassing 8-2 Champions League defeat by Bayern Munich in 2020: “If tomorrow [Ronald] Koeman tells me I have to go, I will leave football. I am not going to play in another team that is not Barcelona.” That appears to be a scenario which has played out.
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Pique posted a video over two minutes in length on Thursday confirming his imminent retirement from playing football. He said: "I have always said that after Barca there would be no other team, and so it will be. This Saturday will be my last game at the Camp Nou.
"A lot of people have been talking about me for weeks, months. So far, I haven't said anything, but now I'll be the one to talk about me. I've always been from Barcelona, I was born into a very soccer and very passionate family. From a very young age, I didn't want to be a soccer player, I wanted to be a Barcelona player.
"Lately, I have thought a lot about that boy, what the little Gerard would have thought if he had been told that he would fulfil all his dreams, that he would reach the first team of Barcelona, he would be champion of Europe, and of the world. That he would play with the best in history, that he would be one of the captains, that he would make friends forever."
The defender concluded: "It's been 25 years since I joined Barcelona, I left and came back. Football has given me everything. Barca has given me everything. You, Cules, have given me everything. And now that that child's dreams have been fulfilled, I have decided that it is time to close the circle...
"I will become one more Cule, I will encourage the team and transmit the love for the team to my children, just as my family did with me. And you know me, sooner or later, I'll be back. See you at the Camp Nou. Visca el Barca, always."
