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#2 Pique has played for two European giants
Gerard Pique’s youth career may have started in Barcelona but the Spanish centre-back got a taste of major European football with Manchester United. Pique was part of United’s 2007-08 campaign when the Red Devils won the Premier League and the Champions League titles.
Although Pique did not get a lot of playing time at United, but him being around the likes of Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic sharpened his understanding of the game. Pique opted to play in a foreign country at a very early age and took the hard road to reach the level he is at today.
Even though Pique left United to join Barcelona in 2008, the 32-year-old defender has always praised the football knowledge he received at Old Trafford under Sir Alex Ferguson. Pique firmly believes that Manchester United made him the player he is today and he takes pride in representing two of the biggest teams of European football.
Pique was once quoted saying, “When I left my friends there to spend four years at Manchester United it was tough. At the same time that was a great experience for me.
I grew up a lot there. I am who I am because of the period I had at Manchester United, even though I didn’t play as much as I wanted to."
Despite the lack of game time at Old Trafford, Pique got a taste of foreign culture and a completely different dressing room environment which not only made him more humble but also aware of what he needed to do in the long run to be a starter for his club and country.
Unlike Pique, Sergio Ramos never had the taste of playing in a different culture or adapt to things that do not come naturally to him. It may not eventually limit him as a player but it somewhere curtails the horizon of player development.
Sergio Ramos joined Real Madrid after one season with Sevilla and with all due respect to Sevilla, they are not Manchester United in terms of on-field pedigree and off-field learning. Pique has managed to be loved and respected at two major European sides which no one can take away from him.
