Piqué: "Barça don't owe me anything; their next 2-3 years are crucial"

Gerard Piqué is back on the scene. Eight months after hanging up his boots, the ex-footballer gave an interview to Cadena SER's 'El Larguero' in which he reviewed his life, the current situation at Barcelona and Lionel Messi's move to Major League Socce club Inter Miami.

"I don't miss football at all," he said. "It's a chapter of my life that has passed. When you make the decision to leave, you take it. I'm very cold about it. Looking back does you very little good. It went incredibly well, better than expected. I'm very proud of what I've experienced. I wouldn't have been able to do so well even in my wildest dreams, but to stay in the past would be a mistake. The past doesn't give you any more. Obviously, people know you in the street, but that chapter is over. When that happens, you have to move on."

Asked if Barça owed him any money after he retired as a footballer, Piqué was categorical: "The day I left the club, I left everything settled. They don't owe me anything. I wasn't playing and the decision to leave was mine. There was no point in asking for anything. I got what I deserved as long as I played."

Piqué acknowledged "a certain concern" about the financial situation that Barça are going through, although he assured that the club "is in good hands."

"Worried about Barça?" he continued. "It is a certain concern. You know that the economic situation is not the best, but we are in good hands. There is a president and a board that have lived through this and left it behind before. It happened to them in 2003. They are brave and they know what they are doing.

"We are in survival mode, but without ruling out titles. We have to keep winning. History pushes you to compete every year and win cups. At the same time, economically you are not entirely competitive. The presi knows how to play that game very well. I think the next two to three years are crucial."

Adiós Messi

Piqué also spoke about the future of Messi, who decided not to renew his contract with Paris Saint-Germain. Despite having the option of returning to Barcelona on the table, he declined this path, as well as that of Saudi Arabia, to head to the United States. It is something the former defender had already imagined and acknowledged to be the "most natural decision."

"From the first moment, I thought Messi would go to Inter Miami," Piqué said. "Financially they were offering him stratospheric sums. There was the option of coming here [back to Barça], which I understand he contemplated, but the most natural decision was to open up a market in the USA. In Miami there are a lot of Latinos, they speak a lot of Spanish and it will be easy for him to adapt."