Gerard Pique not touting for Barcelona captaincy

Gerard Pique has revealed he wants to be the Barcelona captain following the departure of Xavi Hernandez, per ESPN.

Fresh reports have emerged claiming United have agreed a £23m fee with Barcelona for the player, but Pique doesn’t want to see his club and countryman depart.

“Whether I become captain or not in the future, I will continue to play an important role in the team”.

With his confidence now clearly fully restored, Pique added: “In the future, I would like to be Barca captain”.

“I would like to be a captain in the future, but it isn’t something I lose sleep over”.

“When I said that I wanted to recover my best level, I meant that I wanted to be important for the team and return to winning titles”.

The success of Barca’s attacking trident of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar restricted Pedro’s game time last season and will continue to do so next campaign.

“With this squad we can again aspire to win the sextet”, he added.

Pedro’s talents are often overshadowed by the likes of Lionel Messi, Neymar and Suarez at Barca but the fact is that the Spanish global has played for many years at the highest level.

“What I can say is that I understand that a player like Pedro wants more minutes”, Pique said.

“I hope he stays because he’s an awesome player and gives very good performances”.

Manchester United and Liverpool are among the clubs reportedly linked with Pedro this summer, but Barca president Josep Bartomeu has confirmed the club are yet to receive a formal offer for the player, while reiterating Pedro would only be allowed to leave if a club were to trigger his 22 million euro buy-out clause.