Thursday, 11 September 2008

Barça B: Gai coming to terms with non-promotion

Israeli newspaper Haaretz reports that Barcelona Atlètic left wing attacker and Israeli international Gai Assulin (17) is still struggling to come to terms with Barcelona manager Guardiola's decision not to promote him to the club's senior squad, but that the player remains confident that he will one day wear the uniform of a premier soccer club, hoping it will be with the same organization that has nurtured him for the past five years.

Asked about the fact that he wasn't promoted last summer, Gai said to the newspaper that he had a hard time but that he still hopes to reach the first team:

"At first, I was hurt that I wasn't moved up to Barcelona's senior team. I've lived there since I was twelve with my dad just for the moment that I would play at Camp Nou wearing the jersey of the best team in the world. But every time I became frustrated, I'd look around and see what a great club it was, what a career I could have, and I would tell myself 'Guy, you're at an amazing team and if you're strong, you can get to the top of world soccer'."

Read more:
Barça B: Gai feels ready for first team
Sporting Gijon wants Gai Assulin on loan
Gai disappointed about missing promotion

8 comments:

Àlex said...

Wenger or Benitez could well see this as invitation to come for the lad.
Barca must act smart here...

Anonymous said...

I can understand it must be very hard for him, mainly because of the following reasons:

(1) Bojan was promoted at only 16, Giovani when he just turned 18, so he would probably have hoped for it.

(2) there was a vacancy (there actually still is one) at the left wing, which is his spt at the B team

(3) he didn't even do the pre-season when other wingers like Pedrito and Jeffren did, which puts him like in third place, with Pedro also being permanently promoted


So I really can understand his frustration (of course you should be able to accept it if you're a profesional) and I hope the staff has talked with him and explained their reasons ("you need a lot of minutes to keep on developing").

Anonymous said...

Why does he look like another Messi ?!

Anonymous said...

Because he iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis another Messi!!!

Well, not quite but a guy like Messi comes out of your youth teams once in half a century probably. I think he has less injuries so that's an advantage.

Anonymous said...

Dude, you're 17! Take it easy. Everyone can't be promoted at that age.

Anonymous said...

i think pep's dicision is right.
he needs play time reguraly,
for 17 year old guy , segundaB is enogh place to improve.
and pedro deserves more to play
1st team than him.

Anonymous said...

I feel sorry for him cuz he does have the skill to fulfill the spot on the first team but he needs more strength, cuz his build shows he's going to get knocked about often by the big defenders and a bit more vision on the pitch. i hope he gets more than a couple games with the first team tho to show him that there's hope. Hope fully he improves significantly and gets promoted next term, and barca can messi on d right and lil messi on the left.

Anonymous said...

If Gai focuses on being the best he can be at abrca B he will get his chance next year. Hopefully, he shows that he is a professional by playing his heart out for Barca B. If he does, Guardiola might even include him in some Cup games this year as well. I think everyone at the club realizes that he is another talent like Bojan and they will make sure he stays with the team by promoting him next season.

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