Gerard Pique shares important characteristics with Alex Ferguson and has the potential to be a future president of Barcelona, according to journalist Graham Hunter.
A product of the Barcelona youth system who made his initial impression playing for Manchester United, four years spent under Alex Ferguson had a major impact on Gerard Pique.
"He reminds me of Ferguson," journalist Graham Hunter told OTB AM on Tuesday morning.
"Alex Ferguson always said that one of the key components in his own armory was that he would confront problems, look at them, evaluate the risk and then do it.
"He said that that always put him ahead of other managers who would be frightened of the nettle and wouldn't grasp it. Pique has that."
Different in plenty of other ways, Hunter believes this "business weapon" shared by both will be instrumental in allowing the Barcelona star to fulfill his grand plans.
Besieged by financial difficulties, Barcelona were aided by Gerard Pique this week.
It was revealed that he reduced his wages so the club could register three new players in time for their first game of the new La Liga season against Real Sociedad.
Coming out 4-2 winners on Sunday, Pique fittingly scored Barca's opening goal in the Camp Nou.
"He planned it himself, took counsel from his family," Hunter noted of Pique's gesture, "and went and gave the club back a big, really big, eight-figure sum.
"That liberated Memphis Depay to play on Sunday night and the first goal comes when Depay lobs the ball in for Gerard Pique... to nod home."
President Pique?
A World Cup winner with Spain in 2010, Pique has experienced every possible success with Barcelona since returning to the club in 2008.
Pondering the defender's future after football, Hunter foresees a move upstairs into the club's hierarchy.
"Several years ago in an interview... he was asked if he would like one day to be the Director of Football for Barcelona," Hunter recalled. "He said, 'What are you talking about? I want to be the President,' and then he talked about how he saw that happening.
"I specifically asked around his entourage yesterday whether the plan was still on and they said yes, [even though] they're definitely trying to advise him not to because it is a lose-lose situation to become the Barcelona president."
At 34-years-old, the Spaniard intends to play on for another few seasons yet. However, Hunter detailed the many ways in which Pique has already started planning for life after football.
Centrally involved with the Davis Cup, Barcelona's commercial deal with Rakuten, and other ventures ranging into e-sports and streaming services, Pique's limits appear boundless.
"I am convinced by his personality," Hunter began, "his genuine love for the club and his almost all-consuming need to be doing things that test him, that extend him and that cause him risk and demand things of his own brain.
"We're talking about a significant chunk of time in the future, but yes, we will one day be talking about President Pique."
Watch back Graham Hunter on Barcelona, Lionel Messi, Gerard Pique and more right here
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