Gerard Pique was a product of the Manchester United youth academy after joining the club at an early age from Barcelona but achieved arguably the biggest success of his career only when he moved back to Spain. Having failed to break into United's first team set-up during his four seasons at the club, making just 12 Premier League appearances, Pique was loaned to Real Zaragoza for the 2006-07 season and elected to stay in La Liga, returning to Barca a year later. And it was at the Nou Camp where the defender's career really took off, quickly becoming a first team regular before earning his first international call up for Spain in 2009. 12 months later, Pique would be a World champion, when Spain beat the Netherlands 1-0 at the 2010 Would Cup in South Africa. A European Championship followed in 2012 and Pique is today considered one of the best centre-backs in the world, and one of only a few players Sir Alex Ferguson has admitted regretting letting go.
Joseph is an accredited football journalist and has interviewed nearly all of the current 20 Barclay's Premier League managers. He is also a correspondent for Bleacher Report and has written for Caught Offside and Give Me Football.
