Riqui Puig: Tied to Barcelona and battling through Segunda B cloggers

“They are going to kill him, one day they are going to kill him,” warned someone who lives daily with Riqui Puig at the Ciutat Esportiva. The hunt resumes every weekend, but, despite his 1.69 height and 56 kilo weight, he’s still alive and fighting. His seemingly fragile physique should not be confused with a childish personality. That doesn't exist in a football player who has tons of talent, is very ambitious, who has very clear ideas and, above all, aligns all his virtues with common sense disguised as patience and absolute faith in himself.

Barça B were already winning 3-0 at Orihuela fifteen days ago when, in the 90th minute, Javi Llor, Nacho Porcar and Pedro Inglés went for him. Riqui was knocked down after a triple wild tackle. Only Pedro Inglés saw the yellow card. A week later, at Llagostera and with 1-1 on the scoreboard, Anselm Pasquina, without a chance of getting the ball, went for his right ankle. Bingo. Riqui left the field on a stretcher; Pasquina saw a straight red, but only misses one game.

There is some consensus, inside and outside Barça, that the risk of suffering an injury that compromises his career is high. He, on the other hand, is not afraid of anything and his response is still to show a smile under which he hides that he is an extreme competitor. "He is neither a child nor a posh boy,” they say in the locker room to those who see him that way, including his opponents. They argue that, despite the fact that his football is impregnated with the Blaugrana DNA, Riqui "cheats" because to his obvious class he adds "a point of street football that unbalances opponents.” Translation: not only does he not get scared, but he is going and is able to unsettle anyone when on the ball, but also verbally. “What happens in Segunda B can happen in the top flight too. Of course, the impact would be different,” concludes the same source. Hence, neither club nor player sees in a hypothetical assignment to the first team a definitive solution.

GOING NOWHERE

He was able to go out on loan in the summer, just turned 20. They told him about Betis, Eibar, Zaragoza, Al-Sadd, Ajax ...  there were many options, and they also asked him how he would see a transfer ... Riqui didn't even feel the need to sleep on it. No. He did not need to insist on it because his plans coincided with those of the club, which in parallel denied the departure of important players from the B team. The most obvious case was that of Abel Ruiz, but it was not the only veto, because the goal is to return to the Segunda A. Only Miranda and Oriol Busquets could leave on loan. “I will not give in. As my father says, it's cold outside of Barça and you can't leave here if they don't kick you out,” Puig said in early May in a chat with Youtuber Koko DC. Nothing has changed since then and, despite the fact that Barça will once again put on the table the loan proposals that they continues to receive for him in January, his arguments to reject them will be the same.

SAMPER

Beyond his convictions, Riqui is very aware of Sergi Samper's career after being loaned out to Granada. He feels that the best way to keep growing is at Barça. He was born programmed for football played at Camp Nou and believes there are no reliable alternatives for him. Continuing to slug it out in Second B is no problem for him. He has already shown he’s in no hurry from when he first arrived at Barça, at thirteen, being a cadet. There were options to leave Jàbac de Terrassa before, where he was No 10 and the captain, but he took the step when he felt the time had come.

OPEN DOORS

This is his third year in the B-team and, although he acknowledges that "I would like to be in the first team squad", he does not lose sight of the examples of Busquets and Pedro, who debuted after 20, or Puyol, who did at 21. All of them serve as inspiration and motivation. "He always sees the glass half full," they explain in the locker room, which is why it gives him great courage to have already played three official matches in the first team (Cultural Leonesa in the Copa and Huesca and Celta in the league).

Beyond the numbers, he feels more than ready to seize his moment. That explains why in the first months of the season he feels a certain disappointment that he is no longer entering Valverde's plans. Circumstances do not play in his favour. Rakitic's departure didn’t happen, injuries punished the attacking line and Aleñá's situation does not help: it would be difficult to explain his presence while the Mataro born man remains missing. The cup starts for Barça in January and Riqui will have opportunities again there. That is the intention of the coach and that is the goal of the player, to take advantage of every minute with the first team to the maximum and without getting down about it. He believes in where he is, without trying to anticipate events or burn up periods of time that should be savoured. It is up to him to continue to settle for training regularly with Messi and company. Something happening less than last season at this point, but still being, in his words, "a privilege."