Xavi had advised Barcelona captain to leave the club before the start of the season – report

According to a huge revelation made by journalist David Bernabeu Reverter on OnzeTV3, Barcelona manager Xavi Hernandez told defender Gerard Pique before the start of the season that it was the right time for the veteran to leave the club.

Up until the start of the ongoing campaign, Pique had been a permanent fixture at the heart of the Barça defence for close to 15 years. However, the veteran defender has lost his spot in the starting XI due to his injury issues as well as the emergence of new faces in the squad.

With the likes of Ronald Araujo, Jules Kounde, Andreas Christensen and Eric Garcia all making an impression, Pique has effectively been rendered to being the fifth-choice centre-back at Spotify Camp Nou, which has meant that he has hardly played.

However, the recent injury crisis at the club saw the 35-year-old get some regular game time. And even though he looked good in a few games, the performance against Inter Milan last week was a disaster and has led to him drawing a lot of criticism, even from the club’s board.

Considering his diminished role in the team and his massive wages, Barça are reportedly looking for ways to get Pique off the books at the earliest possible.

Amidst this, David Bernabeu Reverter has claimed that Xavi had already informed the veteran defender during pre-season that it was a good time for him to part ways with the club.

There had been doubts cast over the prominence Pique would hold in the team after he ended the last season with injury problems. The summer arrivals of Kounde and Christensen have served to push him well down the pecking order.

Pique’s contract with Barcelona runs until 2024 but reports have indicated that the club can terminate it unilaterally next year itself if the veteran centre-half fails to feature in 35% of the matches that the team plays.

That could certainly be a possibility considering how infrequently the former Manchester United defender has been used this season.