Gerard Piqué This Thursday, November 3, he surprised Barça fans by announcing his imminent retirement from football at the age of 35. The decision was made after a turbulent year on the pitch and in his personal life, marked by his separation from Shakirathe negotiations for the custody of his two children and his romance with the twenty-year-old Clara Chia.
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The Colombian singer and the culé confirmed their separation via a statement on June 4, just a few days after it was published that Shakira had caught him with another woman. After twelve years of relationship and the little Milan (9) y Sasha (7) in common, they put an end to a story that they are now trying to settle in court.
They are not married, neither wants the other’s money, but the Latin American artist wants to go to Miami with her children and the athlete wants to have them in Spain. The negotiations continue and while they do not reach an agreement, the one who wins is the soccer player, who continues to have his children close to him.
On the other hand, his situation at Fútbol Club Barcelona changed with the return of John Laporta to the presidency in March 2021. Gerard was the highest paid in the squad after the departure of the Argentine star Leo Messiand Laporta proposed a drop in salary along with the rest of the best employees in the squad.
For different reasons: because of his performance, because of his age and because of the complicated economic and sporting situation that the club has been going through in recent years. Piqué refused to lower a penny of his multimillion-dollar salary and, since then, the tensions between both parties have been palpable.
“We tried, we talked to some players to negotiate a reduction… But it didn’t happen. Not only did it not come out, but we had to guarantee 10 million euros that, if those reductions had existed, would not have forced them to make that guarantee”, Laporta noted in public.
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On the other hand, the arrival of his friend Xavi Hernandez As a coach, it has not helped his situation either. Despite the friendship that unites them and everything they achieved sportingly years ago, Xavi separated the personal from the professional and at the beginning of this season he made it clear that he was not up to the level of the team he wanted to build. In this way, he relegated him to the bench behind other teammates such as Eric Garcia, Jules Kounde, Ronald Araujo, Andreas Christensen o Mark Alonso. This caused Piqué, recovered from an adductor injury, to become even more frustrated.
On the other hand, it is at least curious that Piqué announces his retirement at the same time that the Sports Law is approved in Congress, which does not allow an active athlete to establish commercial relations with a state competition if he has the possibility of participating. in her. Therefore, from now on it would have been illegal for him to reach a new controversial agreement with Luis Rubialesthe president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation, so that the Spanish Super Cup continues to be played in Saudi Arabia.
Gerard Pique’s farewell
Piqué said goodbye to his fans at 18:36 this Thursday through an emotional video shared on his social networks: “Culés, I’m Gerard. These weeks, months, many people have talked about me and until now I haven’t said anything. Now I’m going to be the one to talk to you about myself. As many of you know, I’ve always been a Barça fan, I was born in a very footballing family and very culé. From a very young age, I didn’t want to be a footballer, I wanted to be a Barça player. I thought a lot about that boy and what little Gerard would have said if he had been told that he would fulfill all his dreams. Football has given me everything, Barça has given me everything. You, the Catalans, have given me everything”.
Culers, I have to tell you something. pic.twitter.com/k3V919pm1T
— Gerard Piqué (@3gerardpique) November 3, 2022
In the video he reviews his life, from his childhood as a culé until today. “I have decided that it is time to close the circle. I always said that after Barça there was no other team and that is how it will be. This Saturday will be my last game at the Camp Nou,” he added.
Clara Chía, her greatest support
In this new stage of his life, Piqué finds comfort in the arms of his girlfriend, Clara Chía, the woman for whom he left his relationship with Shakira after more than a decade of relationship. At the moment they live together in the apartment that the businessman has in the center of Barcelona. The same one he bought before starting his relationship with the star from Barranquilla. A few days ago, Piqué and his young girlfriend were recorded inside a car, he at the wheel and she as co-driver. They chatted relaxed, smiling and very complicit before the eyes of the fans and onlookers.