- Puyol says that Barca told him he had to accept the offer from Malaga.
- Van Gaal, who was coaching Barca back in 1999, gave him only 24 hours to think it over.
- Carles decided to stay, got promoted to the first team and ended up playing 37 matches in the first season.
“[Back in 1999], Barcelona came to me and told me that there was an offer from Malaga, that I had to accept it. It didn’t seem like a good proposal to me. Not in terms of money, no, because they were offering me much more than I was earning at Barcelona,” Carles Puyol has told Los Otros. (h/t El Desmarque)
“They gave me time to think over, not to say that they separated me a bit from the team. And Van Gaal needed players to do a training match. He gave me 24 hours to think about it and I did not need even a minute. I accepted the challenge [by staying] and ended up playing 37 games that season already.
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Puyol was promoted to the first team in 1999 and went on to play for 15 seasons for the Catalans. A one-club man, Puyol made 593 appearances for Barcelona and is currently the player with the fourth-most games in our history. With 18 trophies to his name, Carles is considered one of the best captains in Barca’ history.
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