La Liga
Gaspar: ‘Messi left as a professional, not like Figo’
Former Barcelona president Juan Gaspar expressed his belief that Lionel Messi was negatively affected by his departure from the ‘Blaugrana’ but stressed that unlike Luis Figo, the Argentine left as a professional.
It was July 24, 2000 when the most talked about transfer in football history took place when Luis Figo left Barcelona for Real.
The Catalans’ leader was now Madrilenos, with Real noting the most expensive transfer at the time of €64m and Figo being found ‘guilty’ of ultimate treason.
Former Blaugrana president Juan Gaspar compared the Portuguese’s departure to Lionel Messi’s and stressed that the Argentine left the Camp Nou as a professional.
“Messi is the best player in the world and his departure affected him negatively but he left in a professional way unlike Luis Figo.
Messi’s exit had a more negative impact than Figo’s exit from Barcelona. “You have to keep in mind that the pandemic has had a negative impact on Barcelona, so Lionel Messi left the team due to special circumstances, understood the matter and went to Paris Saint-Germain”, abrought Gaspar to the Egyptian station channel 1 and then referred to Xavi:
“Xavi loves Barcelona and is a legend as a player. At the moment he’s making a lot of effort to get Barcelona back to where they need to be. I generally don’t like to get involved in a manager’s technical affairs.”
Sophia Jhon is a sports journalist and author. He has worked as a news editor for Sportish and is now a sport columnist for the same publication. Alberta’s professional interests lie largely in sports news, with an emphasis on English football. He has also written articles on other sporting topics.