Gerard Pique calls out Barcelona to tell fans the truth
Barcelona legend Gerard Pique called out his former club to tell the fans the truth about their current situation.
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Trouble in Barca
The Catalan club are around €200 million ($217m) over their La Liga-imposed annual spending, per ESPN.
Barcelona are eight points behind LaLiga leaders Real Madrid. The Blaugrana failed to advance in the Copa del Rey and the Spanish Super Cup.
Barca remains in the Champions League, with the second leg of their round-of-16 tie against Napoli coming next week.
However, Pique said it is unrealistic for Barcelona to aim for short-goal success given their financial woes.
“The fans want honesty and transparency,” the former Barcelona centre-back said on Ibai Llanos’ Twitch channel.
“If the reality is tough, then say it. What you cannot do is sell smoke and mirrors and say we’re going to win the Champions League if you then don’t have the money to compete.”
“I don’t know the club’s situation at the moment. From what I can gather it doesn’t seem that good. But what the socios [members] value is being told the truth to their faces.”
Focus on homegrown talents
Pique, who retired in 2022, said Barcelona fans will accept the club’s rebuilding process.
The 36-year-old also suggested that Barca should invest on their homegrown talents in their famed youth academy instead of looking for high-profile signings.
“If you say, ‘look, we don’t even have a penny to spend, so for the next two or three years we will turn to La Masia,’ people will accept it,” he said.
“The message should be that we have confidence in the academy. There are good players with a lot of talent. Bring them through and try and compete for LaLiga.”
“What you cannot do is say ‘I am going to sign [Erling] Haaland,’ which looks great, but how do you do it? I’m just using Haaland as an example, it’s not to do with rumors. I could equally say [Kylian] Mbappé or whoever.”
