Former Barcelona forward Carles Perez believes he didn’t deserve to be sold by the club in January.
Now at Roma, the young forward spoke about his current situation and gave his take on what happened at the Blaugrana before his departure.
“Since I was a youth player, I had offers to leave Barcelona, some of them from England,” he told EFE.
“Even when I was at Barcelona B I had offers from senior sides and I always said no because I wanted to get to the [Barcelona] first team.
“Then I had my opportunities and I think that the I made the most of them. In fact, I even got a contract as a first-team player.”
After featuring for the seniors under Ernesto Valverde in pre-season and at the start of the 2019/20 campaign, Perez didn’t expect to be sold just months later.
“For me, it was a surprise that later they decided to get rid of me, I consider that I did not deserve it,” he stated.
“But I don’t want to retract anything either, it is something that happened many months ago. Now I am at Roma, one of the best teams in Italy.”
The emergence of Ansu Fati is often placed as the reason for Perez being edged out of the club, but he disagrees with that notion.
“I have never seen it like this,” he said.
“I play on the opposite side to my stronger foot, just as he does on the left wing.
“In any case, I should have been competing for a place with [Ousmane] Dembele or [Leo] Messi, which in the latter case would not be competition but rather taking advantage of any free minutes.
“I have always said that Ansu Fati is a great player and that he has the ability to do something great in the world of football.”
Perez still doesn’t understand the reason why he was sold.
“To this day, I still don’t understand what happened,” Perez said.
“Either the club needed money or it was something else that escapes me.
“But it is already in the past. At the time, it did bother me because it was a blow to leave Barcelona and and no longer seeing your family and friends.
“Since then, from my immediate circle, I have only seen my parents.”
However, Perez is now beginning to see the positives of the move.
“Many people say that it is very cold away from Barcelona, but I consider that there is plenty of life outside of Barcelona.
“I am doing very well at Roma and I am earning my spot [in the team].”
Perez admitted that he has not been checking in on his former side.
“Honestly, no,” he stated when asked if he’d been watching Barcelona’s matches.
“The only entire match I watched was in the Champions League against Napoli.”
