(ANSA) – ISTANBUL, DEC 26 – French basketball player Thomas Heurtel experienced firsthand the role played by Macaulay Culkin in “My poor little angel” (Home Alone), the child accidentally forgotten by his parents at home during a trip back in time of Christmas
Although the adventures that Kevin went through in that comedy that was one of the box office successes and received Oscar and Golden Globe nominations in different areas were unmatched, those that Heurtel suffered had little to envy him.
The reasons were different, because in his case it was not the product of oblivion that he was stranded on Christmas Eve in Istanbul, but a kind of punishment
The Barcelona player trained by Sarunas Jasikevicius had traveled days ago to the Turkish capital on a charter flight with the rest of the team to face Anadolu Efes
Apparently and not being taken into account by the coach, Heurtel decided to take advantage of the stay to negotiate an agreement with the Fenerbahace club to move to Istanbul
However, his intentions were different and behind the maneuver was a parallel negotiation with Real Madrid, a classic rival of Barcelona not only in football
The news reached Nacho Rodríguez, a powerful leader of the Catalan club who decided to investigate what the Frenchman was up to and ended up discovering the “betrayal”
After the game, Heurtel had no choice but to confess his “sin” and, when he was preparing to return to Spain with his teammates, he was forced to get off the bus that took the team to the airport.
“Take your things and get off,” Rodríguez ordered the player at four in the morning, who fell asleep and scared from the vehicle and was left to his own devices
With his suitcase and more alone than Kevin in the film, Heurtel was freed for God’s sake in the parking lot of an empty Istanbul highway in times of pandemic and no taxis in sight
Luckily for him, his diary contained the phone number of an old teammate and today Anadolu Efes player: Rodigue Beaubois, who came to his rescue
It was he who took him back to the hotel that he had occupied with the Barcelona squad until a few hours before, so at least he did not spend Christmas outside.
“An unjustifiable act unworthy”, considered it Alfonso Reyes, president of the Spanish basketball union and one of the first to publicly criticize the attitude of Barcelona
“I always considered Barcelona to be one of the best clubs in the world. How could he do something similar?” Agreed Mike James, CSKA Moscow player
Frenchman Evan Fournier, who plays for the Orlando Magic, said: “Barcelona, you were really mean”, a concept shared by Malcolm Delaney, a former Barcelona who today plays at Olimpia Milan
The Catalan club tried to justify itself by stating that last Sunday, before the game with Badalona, it agreed with Heurtel himself not to play so as not to risk injury since the termination of the contract was imminent
According to Barcelona, the French player had not been called up for the match with Anadolu Efes, but allowed him to travel with the team to Istanbul to negotiate questions related to his future
The “blaugrana” club affirmed that the final break between the parties occurred when the attorney-in-fact and the player decided to interrupt the negotiations regarding his transfer
“Not being part of the squad, we decided that he would not return with the team, but he had at his disposal everything he needed, including the plane ticket to travel to Barcelona the next day,” he clarified
Heurtel finally returned, but chose to avoid any comment regarding what he had to live in Istanbul and also his negotiation with Real Madrid, with which he would sign a contract until June 2021 with the option of extending it until 2022
As if something were missing from the “soap opera”, Barcelona and Real Madrid encouraged this Sunday the Classic for the Endesa League, prior to which some of the Frenchman’s teammates said they were sorry for not having supported him at the time
Heurtel was chosen as the most valuable player in the last titles achieved by Barcelona and Real Madrid aimed at him to cover the place that Argentine Facundo Campazzo left free when he passed the Denver Nuggets of the NBA. (ANSA)
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