Former Barcelona starlet Riqui Puig goes after manager Xavi Hernandez | OneFootball

Former Barcelona starlet Riqui Puig has criticised his former manager in Xavi Hernandez, claiming his coach did not treat him as he should of before his departure.

Puig ended up leaving the club last summer, after being left off the club’s US summer tour last season. He was expected to receive more opportunities with Xavi than under predecessor Ronald Koeman, but got the same treatment.

“It was abysmal, considering that I had always been in Barcelona. The coach called me and said that I suited him a lot because of how the team plays. In Barcelona I wasn’t very comfortable either on the pitch or off it, there were things on the outside [of the game] that I didn’t like. It is true that it is another football, another league. There you are in the best keague in the world, with the best and here it is different, but everything is going well. I am very satisfied with the decision I made,” he said to Sport.

“I had bad luck with some things, we changed a lot of managers, there were many departures, the club was not good. Now I see Barca as a record and it is the same as before. I was in a situation that I was not very comfortable with.”

Puig was derided by many for moving to Major League Soccer, many claiming it was a step down, and showed a lack of ambition. However he was keen to ensure others knew he might come back to European football, even hinting that decision could happen as soon as the turn of the year.

“For my football and for my future it is an idea that you always have in your head. I came here very young, to train, to gain experience, it’s brutal, but if an opportunity to go to Europe presents itself, I wouldn’t say no.”

That is unlikely to under Xavi Hernandez though, who he was highly critical of that idea.

“Before the end of the season, we sat down and he told me that he didn’t count on me. With the President it was different, he saw a future in me and wanted me to stay, but I wasn’t going to stay at a club where the coach didn’t want me.”

“It hurt when he didn’t let me train for the first few weeks. The treatment was not good. I had a contract and had to play as a player for the club that I was at. That bothers me. I quickly looked for a way out and going to the other side of the world has gone well for me.”

Puig became a controversial figure at Barcelona, in no small part down to the fact he was used to represent the lack of opportunities being given to La Masia players by Koeman.