Pique keen on future Barcelona presidency

Gerard Pique has hinted he will run for Barcelona presidency in the future but will “focus on other things” immediately after his retirement.

The Spain international brought a close to his illustrious career this week, hanging up his boots with eight LaLiga titles and three Champions League victories, as well as international glory at the European Championships and World Cup.

Having been developed at Barcelona, Pique starred in the first team after a four-year stint at Manchester United to become a mainstay in a 14-year spell.

Unlike former team-mates Xavi and Andres Iniesta, Pique is unlikely to go into management but revealed club presidency is something to consider in the future.

“I’m sure it will appeal to me at one point, but not right now,” Pique told Ibai Llanos on Twitch.

“Not training every day will give me the opportunity to focus on other things. In the future, we will see, but I would like to help the club of my life maximise the potential it has.”

Pique was unable to feature in the midweek victory against Osasuna, having been shown a red card as a substitute at half-time, but did bid farewell to Camp Nou in the 2-0 victory against Almeria previously.

That send-off meant a lot to the defender, who explained he had been considering retirement throughout the first few months of the season.

“Saturday was spectacular for me. I was not giving too much importance to it, but I am so grateful to get a send-off like that and to realise the appreciation the fans have,” he added.

“There were a lot of reasons [for retiring] which I had been thinking about throughout the season. I spoke with Xavi at the start of the campaign and he told me it would be difficult for me this year, but I wanted to give it a go. Last year had been good for me personally.

“But the sensations were not good in general. There were moments I thought about retiring earlier when I was not playing. After one game, I was doing the post-game session at Camp Nou for players that had not played and I thought about going into the dressing room and calling it a day.

“In the end, with the injuries we had in defence, I delayed the decision but now, with the World Cup break, felt like a good moment.”