Barcelona boss Xavi hails Gerard Pique after his retirement is ‘set to save the Catalan giants £44m’

Barcelona boss Xavi has hailed the Catalan giants’ iconic defender Gerard Pique after he announced his retirement from football on Thursday evening.    

Pique, who has made 615 appearances for Barcelona, is set to play in their LaLiga clash with Almeria at the weekend at the Nou Camp before hanging up his boots.

The Spanish defender, 35, has won 30 trophies while at his boyhood club, while he also spent four years with Manchester United from 2004-2008. 

Pique had been under pressure to leave Barcelona as the cash-strapped club aimed to get rid of his high wages, while he has played just nine times in all competition’s this season, slipping down Xavi’s pecking order at centre-back – and even behind left-back Marcos Alonso who has been preferred at times.

This came after Barcelona boss Xavi told Pique in the summer that he would no longer be an important player at the club. 

Spanish outlet Marca had reported that by announcing his retirement, he has saved the club about £44m, significantly helping the cash-strapped club to juggle their finances and increase their Financial Fair Play margin.

And, speaking for the first time since the news, Xavi hailed Pique’s decision as a ‘gesture of spectacular greatness’.

Xavi (R) labelled Pique’s (L) decision to leave the club as a ‘gesture of spectacular greatness’

He said: ‘Pique is a player who still has a contract and who could have continued at the club, so his gesture shows spectacular greatness.

‘We had a private conversation at the beginning of the summer. I had to explain my intentions to him and it was one of the most difficult moments I’ve had to do as a coach.

‘We heard about Pique’s decision this week. Surely I have had an important weight in making this decision, but the truth is that I have to make decisions and in many situations someone else played over Pique.

‘For me it is not a relief that he is leaving now. It is a personal decision for him, due to the circumstances and due to the conversation we had in the summer.

‘I’ve tried to be honest with Piqué… the footballer always feels when you don’t play him, the coach is to be blamed.

‘That’s why I say that sometimes the job of a coach is unpleasant because you have to make difficult decisions. The conversation we had is private.’

Xavi also backed Pique to fulfill his ambition of returning as club president in the future 

A former teammate of Pique, Xavi was also full of praise for the Spanish icon and backed him in his reported desire to return to the club in a presidential capacity in the future. 

He added: ‘Pique is brave, a winner, a great teammate, and a very intelligent person. He has been a great captain for Barca.

‘Gerard can be president of Barça and he can be whatever he wants, because he has plenty of capacity and leadership, no doubt.’