© EuroFootball.com
Carles Puyol's career at Barcelona club faced a much more serious threat than the gruesome dislocation of his elbow experienced recently.
Journalist Lluis Lainzas reveals this and other little-known facts in his new book.
In the book "113 Years of Barcelona - 113 Stories" published by Corner publishing house, the author claims that C. Puyol not only risked not making it to the main Barcelona team but there was also consideration of selling the young defender to Malaga's team as soon as possible.
In 1998, then Barcelona coach Louis van Gaal asked Ronaldo Koeman, who worked in the Catalonia club's academy, to assess C. Puyol's characteristics. The former Barcelona star and hero of the 1992 Champions League final at Wembley executed the coach's request, but described the Catalan as a "very mediocre footballer".
Paradoxically, another member of the Barcelona B coaching staff, Jose Maria Gonzalvo, who also wrote a character reference for C. Puyol, spoke more favorably of the young defender and was generous with compliments.
Oriol Tortas, who was in charge of the club's youth training structure at the time, did not see the future Barcelona captain's talent.
"O. Tortas simply did not believe in C. Puyol. One evening in June 1995, C. Puyol was participating in exhibition matches, but O. Tortas simply stood up and left the stadium before the end of the game," writes L. Lainzas in his book "113 Years of Barcelona - 113 Stories".
Another obstacle on C. Puyol's path was Lorenzo Serra Ferrer, who was the Barcelona strategist in 2000-2001. The coach did not believe in the defender's talent and prospects, even going as far as stating that he needed to be sold to Malaga as soon as possible.
It was only L. van Gaal's ability to see talent and his accumulated coaching experience that saved C. Puyol from saying goodbye to Barcelona. The young defender remained in the Catalan team, and L. van Gaal decided that the Catalan could actually replace the Dutchman Michael Reiziger in defense.
The experienced specialist from the Netherlands did not shoot straight, trusting C. Puyol. Today, the Barcelona captain is the third player in the club's history in terms of official matches played.
