I still remember. It’s like today, I swear. He June 7, 2008my friend jordi tomasa real culé, sorry, a real sick person, called me early that Saturday and told me “I’ll pick you up tomorrow and we’ll go to Barbastro, we have to help, push and encourage the Pep’s Barca (Guardiola) to get promoted.”
No sooner said than done. We (almost) flew out and arrived in Barbastro at noon, ate like a movie and went to the field where a priest blessed the game and, at half-time, of course, they raffled off a ham. Barça won 0-2 and Guardiola gave one of his magisterial press conferences in a small chalet that was around the Barbastro field. “We have not yet promoted, the return remains & rdquor ;.
Look where, that day the directors who accompanied the Barça subsidiary team were Rafael Yuste, Jacint Borras and as, Joseph Contrerasthe now controversial and suspicious Joseph Contreras. The lineup was: hear; Córcoles, Espasandín, Marc Valiente, Xavi Torres, Sergio Busquets, Pedrito, Dimas, Guerra, Abraham and Jeffrén.
there it all started
I will tell you two more things. That ascent, which catapulted Guardiola to the first team, is considered by the ‘mister’ of Santpedor to be at the height of the European Cup. And, two, that ‘Barçita’ was already in the hands of Sergio Busquets. Of the ‘Busi’ who, 15 years later, has just announced, on the brink of winning his 32nd title, who leaves the team of his entire life. What’s more, Busquets is one of the few who has only worn one shirt: the azulgrana.
Busquets is the metronome of the best Barça of all times. The metronome is that device created to indicate the tempo or pulse of musical compositions, it is the instrument that allows musicians to play in harmony. And that has been, until now and for a decade and a half, since that June 8, 2008, the function of ‘Busi’, managing the orchestra like few others, like nobody else and making the ‘tiki-taka’ sound like a philharmonic .
Busquets is, let’s say it now, one of the great injustices of the Golden Ball. Well, Busquets and many other great, enormous, immense footballers…and goalkeepers, of course. Someone who has made Barça and the world champion Spanish team work like a charm deserves this award, at least in recognition of his immense ability to be the pivot around which both his team’s creative and defensive football revolves.
master the scene
The Busquets that leaves Barça has dominated the scene at all times. It has been ‘Busi’ and no one else who has decided when his wonderful and triumphant stage at Barça ends, in elite football; It has been ‘Busi’ who has decided how and when he announced it and it will be Busquets who will decide his future, since the huge culé midfielder wants to continue playing football even if it is at a different pace, without so much pressure or needs.
But even if he doesn’t say it, even if Barça and, especially, its current leaders deny it, the truth is that Busquets decided a few months ago that this would be his last active season at Barça. It is true, very true, that Xavi Hernandez He has spent all that time asking him or suggesting that he stay, that he needed him, but Busquets has not seen the same interest in the rest of the club, much less in the managers of the sports area, including, not only Rafael Yustesports vice president, but even his own Joan Laportawho thinks that the departure of ‘Busi’ helps them to lower the wage bill, in search of other footballers.
Busquets already began to consider leaving Barça when he heard more than one murmur in the Camp Nou. Busquets, who has given everything, everything, everything, for Barça, acting as the true captain of the team when his friend Leo Messi declined such a function, he felt that those whistles, even if they were slight, could mean that people were beginning to be tired of him.
And the discounts arrived
Then came the time of salary reductions. First 15% and then a postponement of most of the tab, to the point that, even when ‘Busi’ hangs up his Blaugrana shirt, the club will probably continue to owe him close to five million euros.
That situation, justified, said the board, due to the crisis and the legacy of the past, was what caused the idea of leaving Barça at the end of the season in the mind of the Barca metronome. ‘Busi’ has preferred to leave the club of his life with a well-deserved League and in which he has continued to play a vital role. That is to say, ‘Busi’ leaves being on the crest of the wave, at the top of his football.
It is evident and no one will recognize that either, when the time came to hear what Barça had to offer him, Busquets had the feeling that the only one who loved him, who valued his contribution, I insist, not only on the pitch but also his vital role in the ordering and proper functioning of the dressing room was Xavi.
a sad offer
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Why? Because the offer that, finally, mateu alemany he sent Busquets was almost, almost, almost a third of what he is going to earn this year (I have the two figures, the one for this year and the one he was offered, but I am not going to publish them). The offer, moreover, did not contemplate, since it is becoming the norm at Barça to suppress them, the various variables or bonuses that, in the case of great figures, end up rounding off an excellent contract.
The offer was so poor, so unfortunate, so unattractive for someone who could be contemplating leaving or staying, that the footballer’s response took a long time, almost two months, in a clear silent reply that he not only considered it insufficient , but it was almost offensive for someone who had given everything at Barça for the last 15 years, starting with that mythical, yes, yes, mythical June 8, 2008.