“Sometimes they have to make decisions too [en referència a Xavi i al club] they took this [deixar-lo fora de la gira]which I don’t share”, continues Puig. Of course, to make it up a bit, the 23-year-old footballer clarifies that he does not harbor any spirit of “revenge”, but must show gratitude to Barça: “Thanks to they are who I am as a player”. The ex-Blaugrana, with a contract until 2025 with his new team, does not hide that during his last period in Barcelona he was not treated as he would have liked. “But that can forget and nothing happens,” he adds, biting his tongue. The player’s frustration can be explained because after seeing what it was like to be defenestered by Ronald Koeman, a coach who never trusted him, he had high hopes for the arrival of Xavi, coach whom he has not been able to convince either.
The esteem that Puig has not found in his time as a player of the first team of Barça hopes to get it now at Los Angeles Galaxy. At the moment, the coach of the Californians, Greg Vanney, has already melted into praise for the player from Matadepera, who has been presented as “one of the greatest talents ever signed by MLS”, according to the words of the north- american For his part, the midfielder wanted to thank the reception he has had at his new club: “I am very excited, I feel at home. Here they convey love and confidence to me.” Words that can also be read as a new jab at Barça, where he arrived eight years ago to play as a cadet. After shining in the lower categories and the subsidiary, Puig did not manage to have regularity in the first team.
Now he will try his luck in the MLS, a much smaller league compared to European football and often the retirement destination of veteran footballers, as could be the case of Sergio Busquets next year, or even Leo Messi. However, MLS is attracting more and more young Europeans and their level of football is on the rise. Riqui Puig, for whom Barça is keeping an option for a future sale, will share the dressing room with old acquaintances such as Chicharito Hernández or ex-Blaugrana Víctor Vázquez. He already has the papers in order to be able to debut with his new team.
