5 former Barcelona players who are currently thriving away from Camp Nou
Barcelona have a litany of former players at other clubs and a handful of them are currently living their best lives since leaving Camp Nou.
As Xavi’s team falters in their bid to retain the La Liga title, several of their former players are faring much better since leaving the club.
We’ve identified five former Barca stars who are currently loving life since moving to pastures new.
Luis Suarez
Since leaving Camp Nou, Suarez has won a league title with Atletico Madrid, returned back to Uruguay and played for Nacional, banged in the goals in Brazil for Gremio and secured a reunion with Lionel Messi at Inter Miami.
He’s living his best life.
Riqui Puig
Compared to Andres Iniesta when he broke through, Puig played for Barca for three seasons as a squad rotation player in midfield before leaving for LA Galaxy at the age of 22.
Playing under a turbulent time at Camp Nou with four different managers, plus the pressure of coming through during a transition phase for the Catalan side, made things hard for Puig but he still lifted a Copa del Rey with the club.
Puig played 29 times for the Galaxy in MLS this season, scoring seven times and providing four assists. His debut screamer was our highlight…
OMG RIQUI PUIG! 🤯
His first MLS goal is a screamer! pic.twitter.com/snQq2ty5yJ
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) September 1, 2022
Luuk de Jong
Barca supporters never warmed to De Jong, but there’s an argument that the big centre forward’s limitations were exaggerated by a disgruntled fanbase.
A deadline day signing from the Sevilla bench in 2021, De Jong could never dream of replacing the outgoing Messi.
He scored six goals in 21 appearances – some of them vital late winners – but always looked an awkward fit for the club defined by tiki-taka. It was no major surprise that his loan deal wasn’t made permanent, but it can’t be said he didn’t do a job when needed.
The 33-year-old is now back in the Netherlands with PSV Eindhoven and has scored 19 goals in 26 appearances for the runaway Eredivisie leaders.
Jean-Clair Todibo
Barca will be kicking themselves for selling Todibo to Nice for a scandalously low €8.5million in 2021.
The centre-back has been in imperious form for the Ligue 1 and many of the Premier League’s big guns are circling with intent.
“He’s a very good defender,” former Manchester United striker Louis Saha told Betfair.
“He’s very unlucky because currently there’s a golden generation of French defenders and that’s why he doesn’t have many caps for the national team.
“He’s very good on the ball, he’s calm and he would very much suit Manchester United’s style of play.”
Barcelona would’ve got five times the amount for Todibo if they’d shown some patience. Another boardroom cock-up.
READ: The future of Man Utd’s defence is a former Barca wonderkid & a clean sheet monster
Abde Ezzalzouli
“Abde is a differential player,” Xavi said about the winger in 2021. “He can make a difference. He is a dagger. A marvel. (He is) making the difference in a tremendous way.”
Alas, Ezzalzouli’s performances at Osasuna last season only tempted Barcelona into selling him to Real Betis to ease their financial concerns.
He scored his first goal for his new club in a 3-0 win over Valencia in October and, while he’s only added a single Europa League strike since, it feels like the 21-year-old is in the perfect environment to thrive.
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