Man United senior players were ‘a**holes’, says former youth star

“It used to me more difficult in my time…” that’s something grandpas use to say. We’re not sure if the 29-year-old Gerard Pique feels like an old man in the new Spanish national team, but he certainly speaks like one.

In an interview with Onda Cero (via AS), the Barcelona defender said it was much harder for youngsters to adapt to the first team in the past, and used his years at Manchester United as an example for that.

When asked about the young players in the national team, Pique said: “They adapt very well, it’s not like before. When I was seventeen, eighteen years old and tried to make the jump to the first team at Manchester (United), it was much more difficult, senior players were assholes.”

“Now you make a little joke and it seems to be a crime. I remember when Gerard Deulofeu went to the first team, and he was going to sit at a dinner, I removed the chair, he fell and I got a scolding. They did it to us everyday! (laughs)”.

Gerard Pique signed for Manchester United in 2004, when he was still 17 years old. He later returned to Barcelona in 2008, after making only 22 appearances for the Red Devils.