Gerard Deulofeu wasn’t the most likeable young footballer when he was coming through at Barcelona. It always felt like the player had a huge ego, and felt he was destined for great things.
But since then Deulofeu has had the reality of football slap him around the face a few times, and has worked hard to come out the other side. Moving to Watford on loan was a gamble but he took it and did well, his time hit by an ankle injury.
That didn’t make the 24 year old want to bail and he’s signed for the club permanently, clearly having a good understanding with Javi Gracia and wanting to settle down somewhere for a while.
For the past few years Barcelona have treated Deulofeu like a commodity and the club hold some blame for the stutters in his recent career.
Despite that, Sport are placing it all at the player’s door, and it’s not the first time this year there’s been a personal attack on the Watford player.
The Catalan newspaper state: ‘He was one of the pearls of the Barca quarry, one of these players touched by the magic wand that should lead to sure success. Deulofeu showed from an early age an indisputable talent, extraordinary ability, an electrifying game that made him different from the classmates of his generation.
‘But Deulofeu has crashed. He has had many opportunities and he has squandered them all. He leaves the Barça by the back door, leaving thirteen million, but also a feeling of overwhelmingly failure. And the worst is that he cannot blame anyone, all the blame is his.’
The Watford player should have that printed on his bathroom mirror, and read it every morning when he’s brushing his teeth… before setting out for work with a determination to prove many in the Catalan media wrong.
