He was the man in the background at Manchester United under the tutorship of Sir Alex Ferguson and people could be forgiven if they never knew Gerard Piqué played for the Red Devils.
In fact, the defender spent 4 years at the Old Trafford club between 2004 and 2008 and made 12 appearances. he spent a year on loan at Zaragoza in the 2006/7 season and finally found his way back to FC Barcelona in 2008. His name is synonymous with the Pep Guardiola era at the club but unfortunately at the moment, Gerard Piqué seems to be out of favour under new manager Luis Enrique.
Spanish sports newspaper AS are tipping that Piqué could leave in the winter and head back over to Manchester United. Louis van Gaal is desperately trying to rebuild his defence and could see the Barcelona player as the perfect man to do the job. United have spent a fortune this summer and it seems the front half of the team is firing on all cylinders. However, after adding Daley Blind and Marcos Rojo at the back, it appears that the club still need reinforcements in defence, especially after the weekend’s display against Leicester when United threw a 3-1 lead away to end up 5-3 down.
AS reports: “Manchester United recognises his current problems and the machinery is in place to try and secure his move in January next year.”
“They understand the player could be available and it’s important that Ferguson is still around the squad.”
So if the rumours are true, what are United’s chances of getting Piqué to re-join the side he left in 2008? Firstly, Piqué is such a high profile player at the Azulgranas that they might wish to keep him especially as they only signed Thomas Vermaelen and Jeremy Matthieu this summer to strengthen the back. Barça also failed to sign Mats Hummels from Dortmund, which is another point in favour of the club keeping Piqué. One other reason is the length of Piqué’s contract which expires in 2019 – we doubt the club would let him go at the moment.
This may be just a pipe dream for United fans but FC Barcelona are under no pressure to offload the valuable player. However, if it did happen, United will surely have to stump up the cash, something that hasn’t been a problem this summer.
Barce should let him go