Gerard Pique (1)

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Gerard Pique is not having the best time in his personal as well as his professional life at the moment. After separation with wife Shakira, Pique will also have to give up on his football club Barcelona, if recent reports are to be believed. Reports have claimed that Pique has been told that he is no longer needed at Camp Nou as the Catalan Club looks to move forward.

As per a report in Spanish news outlet SPORT, the Barcelona manager Xavi Hernandez has deemed Gerard Pique’s behavior off the field unprofessional and has taken the call to exclude him from Spanish Club’s future plans. According to the report, Xavi took a call with Pique a couple of weeks ago and told him that he is no more needed at the club. Xavi’s main issue with Pique is his deteriorating physical health. Also, another issue with Pique is his multiple other business interests.

Notably, Gerard Pique is the founder of Kosmos Holding, a sports and media investment company. He is the President of the company alongside his four partners which includes Hiroshi Mikitani, who is the owner of Barcelona’s sponsor, Rakuten.

Pique not ready to give up

While Xavi Hernandez has clearly stated that the club is not looking at Gerard Pique as a long-term asset and want to move on, the Spanish is not ready to give up yet. Pique is ready to combat Xavi’s arguments on his physical fitness by working even harder. He is also ready to lay off some of his off-field commitments.

However, Xavi has insisted that he wanted a center-back who he could build a competitive team on and said he did not see Gerard Pique in that role. Sevilla’s talented French centre-back, Jules Kounde is one of the names being picked out by Xavi as Pique’s potential replacement. While Xavi looks all done with his decision to not include Pique in Barcelona’s future plans, it won’t be easy for the Catalan Club to settle the deal with the 35-year-old.

Notably, Gerard Pique has a deal until 2024 and Barcelona already owe Pique around 40m euros from payments that have been deferred. So, it all lies in the hands of Mateu Alemany who will have the tough task to negotiate with Pique.