Riqui, goodbye to the grass

Three and a half years after make his debut with the first team against the Leonese Cultural (“dreams comes true”, he tweeted that day when Valverde gave him the alternative in the Copa del Rey), Riqui Puig’s dream at Barça seems close to its end. The talent of Matadepera, hope of La Masia when he led the youth team to the title of the Youth League in 2018, has not exploded as expected. He failed to settle with Valverde, Setién or Koeman and his fans have taken the last bath of reality after the arrival of Xavi, that only has given 268 minutes since it arrived last month of November. 54 games in three seasons are very few for a footballer on whom maximum expectations were created. Not only in Barcelona. It will always remain in memory that game in San Francisco against Milan, after which Gattusso spoke wonders of him and Massaro, Barça’s executioner in the 1994 Champions League final, He asked for the shirt…

Time has shown that Riqui Puig was not one question coaching style, but soccer. While footballers younger than him like Nico, Pedri o Gavi they left sitting down in the first team, Riqui, about to turn 23, has been advanced.

explanations from Riqui’s failed explosion hay many. The soccer have to do with a struggling player to compete at maximum level, with less understanding of the game if compared to Pedri, with less physical yes if you mide with Nico, with less competitive greed if compared to appearances like Gavi’s. To Riqui, a ‘enjoyment’ in his time as a youth when Barça asserts the difference it has with respect to the rivals, has side stand take the last jump, the one that measures the players in the elite. At least, in the Barça. The technicalmany and each one with his booklet, they have not trusted him.

Riqui, that contract ends in 2023, He has already decided to leave Barça this summer, his club since arrived in 2013 from Jàbac de Terrassa. He cannot hide another year on the bench and we will have to see his response in another habitat. At least, Riqui is going to have the opportunity to say goodbye on the grass. The absence of Sergio Busquets due to suspension against Celta; and the absence of Pedri, Sergi Roberto and Nico due to injury open the possibility of playing against Celta, one of the teams that has always sounded like a possible destination. It’s up to Riqui give a step forward in his career, but first he wants to leave with a smile from the stadium he always dreamed of stepping on and from the club he carries in his heart.