The Barça leaves to Heurtel in Istanbul

Barça’s basketball section had been left out of all the controversies that have arisen in 2020 in the Catalan club. Until yesterday. The Blaugranas felt betrayed and deceived by Thomas Heurtel and his agency of representation and decided to act in an outburst of revenge that is going around the world. The Catalan team banned their (still) player from getting on the plane back and returned to Barcelona leaving the French abandoned in Istanbul.

The facts were as follows. The divorce between Heurtel and Jasikevicius is more than a week old. The natural talent of the point guard has not convinced the coach, who demands a greater defensive intensity. “We are looking for a solution that is beneficial for both parties,” said the coach before Sunday’s game against Joventut. The contract termination agreement seemed to be very close, in which Barça would take over a part (one million euros according to Mundo Deportivo) of its file, and the Frenchman conveyed to the club his intention to sign for Fenerbahce.

So much so that the player himself had asked to travel to Istanbul in order to close the operation with his new team, so the Blaugrana included him in the expedition for yesterday’s game against Efes, which ended with a defeat 86- 79. But once in Turkey, a dramatic turn of events. Barça learned that Fenerbahçe had no interest in the ex-Baskonista and that the Frenchman was secretly negotiating with Real Madrid.

The anger was considerable for what is considered a betrayal and the club acted immediately. Heurtel watched Sinan Erdem’s game from the stands and, according to journalist Jose Ignacio Huguet, left the player in the Ottoman city in an unprecedented decision.

The reactions began to arrive yesterday at midnight and will continue today while Barça has issued a statement a few minutes ago in which it denies that it left the base to its fate and exposes its chronological version of the events. «The player was not unattended in any case and he was given all the facilities – hotel night, regular flight ticket and all the pertinent documentation- to be able to travel and return to Barcelona the next day, “said FC Barcelona, ​​which excuses itself that” as it is not under the team’s discipline in this match, it is decided that the player will not return with him group”. The document, which is not wasted, concludes together with a series of sections that “Thomas Heurtel continues to form part of the discipline of FC Barcelona, ​​waiting to be able to solve its future in the coming days.”

In any case, the players, who were deathly silent upon arrival at the El Prat airport, have been singled out for leaving a teammate in a foreign country in the midst of a pandemic and two days before Christmas Eve. It is unknown if the squad was aware of the club’s intentions and what their position was. The only luck for the ex-Baskonista was that he knows Istanbul to perfection from his past at Efes.

A stopped signing

His compatriots Nando De Colo and Leo Westerman, who has been left in a no-man’s-land in the conflict. Yesterday his termination from Fenerbahce was announced and the only thing missing was the signature to join Jasikevicius’ team, who already trained him at Zalgiris. But the Heurtel case has stopped any operation. If the Catalan club does not release the salary space of the French, it cannot incorporate anyone due to its delicate economic situation.

And on the other side is Real Madrid, to which an ideal market opportunity appeared to improve its squad after the departure of Campazzo. Barça seems to be opting for any way that prevents its player from signing for the Whites, with whom he will face each other this Sunday in the ACB League. At the moment, only two conclusions can be drawn. First that the Frenchman, who is studying to denounce the club with the support of the Association of Professional Basketball Players (ABP), has completed a cycle in Barcelona, ​​and that, for now, he will not meet again with the culé squad. Although it is not ruled out that he will not play for the remainder of the season.