Gerard Piqué is one of the most respected former players of FC Barcelona. For this reason, his opinion is always highly valued when it comes to the Blaugrana team. The Spaniard was trained at La Masia and knows first-hand everything that happens there, so he perfectly understands that the financial circumstances of the club have made the team bet on young players.
Many of them have impressed him and he made this clear to the press before Barcelona's 7-0 thrashing of Valladolid. When asked how he sees Hansi Flick's team, he believes that they are performing well: "At the moment it is going very well, and playing well, the new players like Olmo the other day are already giving a good performance, as well as the youngsters, who already showed a lot in the preseason, but also in the first ones I think they have played many games, they have participated a lot and I think they have fought. I think that there is a team with enough level to fight for the titles."
Piqué surrenders to Cubarsí
Having developed his entire career as a centre-back, he took the opportunity to talk about Cubarsí: "I think he already showed last year that he can play many games as a starter and do it very well. I would say that the maturity with which he faces the games is surprising, and obviously the talent he has. Competing at his age in a club like Barça, with the risk that playing at the back entails, and instead, he is showing that he can play for many years defending the Barça shirt," he praised the 17-year-old.
The Spaniard also applauded the work of other players who are not as well-known, such as Marc Bernal and Pau Víctor: "In the first league games, three 17-year-olds have played as starters for Barça, something unthinkable before and this shows the ability that La Masia has to produce players with incredible talent, but now we have to be patient so that these players can perform in the coming years."
What surprises him most about Lamine Yamal
Another youngster who has stood out a lot since his emergence last season is Lamine Yamal. Piqué considered him to be a player who knows how to choose each situation very well and revealed what impresses him most about the winner of Euro 2024: "I think what surprises him most, just like with Cubarsi, is the maturity with which he goes out onto the field. For being a winger, who normally likes to face a lot, one on one, he knows very well how to choose each situation. If he sees that he is outnumbered, he protects the ball, if he sees that he can face, he faces, he has a goal... I think he is a player with a very high level and a lot of potential and we hope that in the coming years he will be an important player at Can Barça."
Marc Bernal's injury
Finally, he spoke about Bernal's serious injury, who will miss the rest of the season due to a tear of the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee and an associated injury to the external meniscus. "There's not much to say, it's a huge shame and I feel very sorry for him," Piqué lamented. "The first few days will be very difficult, he'll have to be close to the people he loves, family and friends, and after the operation he'll see that little by little the recovery process will begin, that he recovers well, he has many years ahead of him. I'm convinced that he'll be eager to return, but the most important thing is that he's calm and that he recovers well," he concluded.