Ask followers of Barcelona who they think is a talent for the future and the name Riqui Puig is one that’ll appear often.
The 20-year-old midfielder is one of Barça’s highest-rated youngsters, with many predicting he will have a long and fruitful career in the heart of their midfield in years to come.
That’s for the future, though, and until then, Puig finds himself cutting his teeth with Barcelona’s B-team in the Segunda División B.
He’s started in all but one of their 11 league games this season, managing two goals and two assists and helping Barcelona to sixth in the table.
It’s not a situation he’s all too happy about, though, having made it clear on more than one occasion that he sees the division as nothing more than a stepping stone.
That’s caused a bit of ire in Spain, and now former Espanyol winger Jacinto Elá has responded in an open letter to the Barcelona youngster.
“I am surprised that a player with your projection and talent in a couple of months of the championship makes these kinds of statements,” La Vanguardia reports him saying.
“I have heard you say that the Second B ‘is a stepping stone’. When I heard you, I smiled. You cannot imagine the amount of players, as good as you, who have found their ceiling in Segunda B when they aspired to the fullest.
“I’ve heard you almost ask to be taken out of Second B. That’s where your football (and your representative) has to get you out. But remember that it’s cold outside the quarry.
“When you reach this level, the best ones do not go up, only the ones needed by the first-team coach.
“What I want to tell you is that you are not passing through, you are currently a Segunda B player until the contrary is proven.
“And seeing that you have not assimilated or kicked on, you may not even consider yourself a Segunda B player. You have nothing but this to claim. The future is only useful to pressure the club with a new contract.”
