Gerard Piqué wants to return as a professional football player just two months after his retirement from Barcelona, sports newspaper reports Relovo. The 35-year-old Catalan wants to make his comeback 200 kilometers away as a player of FC Andorra, the club from LaLiga2 of which he already owns and is chairman. Whether that will succeed is the question, because strict Spanish regulations make the issue more difficult for Piqué.
On November 3 of last year, Piqué unexpectedly announced his retirement. Via Twitter, the 35-year-old center defender announced in an emotional farewell video that he would play his last match in the Spotify Camp Nou on Saturday against Almería (2-0 win). Piqué indicated that he had trouble with his reserve role under trainer Xavi. “Now is the time to end the journey. I always said that there would be no other club for me than Barcelona, and so it happens. Now I become a regular supporter.”
Three days after his last appearance for Barcelona, Piqué was still on the bench in the match against Osasuna (1-2 win). The 102-time Spanish international raged at halftime of that game against referee Gil Manzano, who handed out a red card. The Spanish federation suspended Piqué for no less than four games. No one seemed to assume that the mandekker would ever sit out those duels, but his new plan to return could change that.
A bigger obstacle than the suspension that Piqué still has are the Spanish rules. A club president could theoretically be deployed as an outfield player, but things get complicated for Piqué. The first restriction is the salary of the Catalan, who earned more than 20 million euros a year at Barcelona. Piqué would love to make his debut in LaLiga2 for the minimum salary in the shirt of FC Andorra, but the Spanish league will not allow it. The rules dictate that players must be paid a representative salary. A committee consisting of three people from LaLiga will therefore decide what salary Piqué is worth.
The second obstacle is the salary cap imposed on every Spanish club. Andorra works with a ceiling of 6.529 million euros. Piqué is unlikely to be valued at less than two million euros a year by the LaLiga committee, says Relovo. Andorra does not have its full salary cap spent, but has far too little room to add such a salary. Andorra could raise the salary cap immediately by securing a new sponsorship deal, a trump card that may still be used.